Pershing will aid clients caught in Stanford mess

Clients of the troubled Stanford companies who clear through Pershing LLC will be able to liquidate their accounts if approved by the court-appointed receiver, Dallas attorney Ralph Janvey. The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday charged R. Allen Stanford and three companies he controls with committing a $9.2 billion fraud. “If a client’s assets are listed on the books of Pershing, liquidating orders are being allowed, with the approval of the receiver,” said Barbara Gallo, spokeswoman for the Jersey City, N.J.-based firm. Brian Bertsch, a Stanford spokesman, referred inquiries about non-Pershing accounts at Stanford to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC, in turn, referred inquiries to Mr. Janvey, a partner in the Dallas law firm of Krage & Janvey LLP. He has not responded to calls asking for clarification of the Pershing statement. Stanford accounts that are not cleared through Pershing remain frozen, according to several operations associates at Stanford Group Co.’s home office operations department who did not want to be identified. Pershing LLC customers are able to liquidate their accounts, but are not able to do anything else, such as write checks or make transfers, the operations associates said. In a case that has brought comparisons to the Bernard Madoff scandal, the SEC alleged in a civil complaint yesterday that Mr. Stanford defrauded investors by promising high returns on certificates of deposit, but actually placed their money in illiquid assets such as real estate and private equity investments. Stanford International Bank Ltd. of St. John’s, Antigua, and Stanford Group Co. and Stanford Capital Management LLC, both of Houston, were named in the SEC complaint. Customers lined up to withdraw their deposits today at banks in the Caribbean and Latin America affiliated with Mr. Stanford’s financial holdings. He has not commented on the SEC charges, nor been seen in public. CNBC reported earlier today that he tried unsuccessfully to get a one-way flight out of the United States to Antigua. Jed Horowitz contributed to this story..