Stanford Receiver Finds Liquidity Crisis

`There is a liquidity crisis in this company,` Ralph Janvey, the Stanford receiver, told U.S. District Judge David Godbey in Dallas.

The court-appointed receiver in control of the assets and operations of Stanford Group Co and two other firms controlled by Texan billionaire Allen Stanford told a federal court on Monday that Stanford Group faces a dire financial squeeze.

"There is a liquidity crisis in this company," Ralph Janvey, the Stanford receiver, told U.S. District Judge David Godbey in Dallas.

Janvey told the court he could likely only recover hundreds of millions of dollars of Stanford assets for investors instead of the billions that he initially thought he could find.

Stanford, his two top aides, and three of his companies are accused by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of running a long-running "massive Ponzi scheme" involving high-yield certificates of deposit and other investments.

On Feb. 17, the federal court in Dallas appointed Janvey to take control of Stanford International Bank and Stanford Capital Management, as well as their parent Stanford Group.

The order, which was extended until March 12 on Monday by Judge Godbey, also freezes assets and forbids the destruction of documents related to the case.