Feds turn up heat on Stanford exec Laura Pendergest-Holt

A top lieutenant of Stanford Financial Group was arrested Thursday and charged with obstructing the investigation of the offshore financial empire founded by Texas financier R. Allen Stanford.

Laura Pendergest-Holt, 35, of Baldwyn, Miss., the firm’s chief investment officer, was charged with misleading investigators in the probe of Stanford International Bank in Antigua, according to the affidavit filed in U.S. District Court of Dallas.

Those are the first criminal charges filed in connection with what authorities have described as “a massive, ongoing fraud” that may have bilked investors of as much as $8 billion.

Pendergest-Holt’s lawyer, Dan Cogdell, said she committed no crime. He said she was arrested during her “third or fourth trip to Houston” to meet with investigators, and had answered questions all morning before being arrested during the lunch break.

“She thought she was going to get lunch, but instead she got taken into custody,” Cogdell told Bloomberg News.

Pendergast-Holt’s husband, Jim Holt, is quoted as saying that his wife oversaw only the “investable assets” for the company.

Earlier this month, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil charges against Stanford, Pendergest-Holt and James M. Davis, the firm’s chief financial officer, alleging they defrauded investors of an estimated $8 billion in deposits.

Stanford, who is estimated to have been worth $ 2.2 billion, once bragged that his empire controlled around $50 billion worth of assets.

Investigators have focused their probe on whether Stanford International Bank operated as a Ponzi scheme, sources told the Wall Street Journal.

The FBI affidavit describes Pendergest-Holt’s deposition with the SEC on Feb. 10, about a week before the SEC sought to freeze the assets of Pendergest-Holt, Stanford and entities connected to the bank.

The affadavit says she made “misrepresentations” about whether she met with other Stanford officials to prepare for her testimony, and about her knowledge of Stanford’s investment portfolio.

An SEC lawyer asked Pendergest-Holt whether she met anyone else apart from her attorney, and she responded, “In preparation of my part, no,” according to the affidavit.

But the affadavit says that in fact, Pendergest-Holt had a meeting a week earlier with her counsel, three unnamed Stanford executives and another unnamed person, to prepare for her testimony, including reviewing data on investments.

No criminal charges have been brought against Stanford or Davis.

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