What is COViSAL?
jaenrodes@gmail.com http://covisal.blogspot.com
With the purpose of sharing with you information about our Coalition and to
invite all the non-US Stanford victims, ignored from the beginning of this
judicial process, to join us in the fight for the recovery of our savings, we
would like to inform you of the following:
§ As a result of the civil complaint presented by the Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC), which froze the funds of the certificates of
deposit (CDs) issued by Stanford International Bank Limited in Antigua (SIBL)
and all the assets related to R. Allen Stanford and his companies, non-US
citizens quickly formed the Coalición Víctimas de Stanford América Latina (COViSAL),
directed by its founder and only leader Mr. Jaime R. Escalona.
§ COViSAL was created with the intention to gather the 15,270
victims from Latin America, who represent 70.24% of the total Stanford victims,
and the other 3,065 international victims who represent 14.1% of the total.
§ Our objective is to fight for the recovery of the money that was vilely
stolen by R. Allen Stanford with the presumed continuous help of high ranking officials
and ex officials belonging to legislative and regulatory entities of the U.S. government
and the Antiguan government. This complicity is evident in the Report issued by
the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) on September 2009, and in
the Reports of Investigation elaborated by the Office of the Inspector General
of the SEC: No. 516, of June 2009 and No. 526 of March 2010, and in the video
of the hearing celebrated on September 22, 2010 with US Senate Banking, Housing
and Urban Affairs Committee, and documents filed with US Courts.
See the following links:
“Report of the 2009 Special Review Committee on
FINRA’s Examination Program in Light of the Stanford and Madoff Schemes” –
September, 2009:
Report of Investigation by the Office of the
Inspector General of the SEC. Case No. OIG-516: “Investigation of Fort Worth
Regional Office’s Conduct of the Stanford Investigation” – June 19, 2009:
Report of Investigation from the Office of
Inspector General of the SEC. Case No. OIG-526:
“Investigation of the SEC’s Response to Concerns Regarding Robert Allen
Stanford’s Alleged Ponzi Scheme” – March 31, 2010: http://www.sec.gov/news/studies/2010/oig-526.pdf
Video of the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing and Urban
Affairs Committee celebrated on September 22, 2010:
§ COViSAL is an organization in which only account holders of CDs from SIBL
participate. We do not accept law firms, representatives, intermediaries or
Stanford’s former employees.
§ The incorporation of victims to COViSAL is voluntary and free. The
indispensable resources to perform this arduous work, in benefit of all the
Stanford victims, come from donations of some of its members.
§ The nature
of COViSAL’s work is research, information and dissemination. By no means should it be interpreted as legal advice.
§ The work is performed from home, using the modest work tools available,
such as computers, scanner, printer, fax, phones, cellular phones, and internet
phone. We have made this equipment available to all victims, without concern
for their deterioration due to excessive use.
§ To continue fighting for our rights despite the U.S. advantage and
discrimination, we must have our members duly organized.
§ To get organized, we have elaborated a simple Registration Questionnaire that
would be sent to your email address per your request.
§ Once this prerequisite is completed, COVISAL will provide you with an
affiliation number, and keep you continuously informed through messages and
confidential documents sent to your email address.
Summary of the work that COVISAL
performs in benefit of all Stanford victims:
1.
Daily research on the Internet about the Stanford case:
·
Search and
selection of publications.
·
Printing.
·
Translation
to Spanish.
·
Distribution
via e-mail.
2.
Research and selection of documents:
·
Reading
and classification.
·
Printing.
·
Translation
to Spanish.
·
Correlation
through notes and cards.
·
Archiving
duly identified.
3.
Study of Stanford’s case documents:
· Documents published by the Receivers and the Examiner.
· Documents published by the SEC, FINRA and other regulatory agencies.
· Complaints against R. Allen Stanford and his accomplices.
· Complaints against former Stanford's employees.
· Complaints against Stanford's investors.
· Complaints against third parties through Class Actions.
· And all documents related to the Stanford case.
4.
Production of letters and documents:
· Writing and editing of letters and documents in Spanish and English.
· Revision and edition of final documents in Spanish and English.
· Delivery to the Receivers, the Examiner, civil and criminal Judges in the USA
and Antigua; delivery in the USA: to Legislators, the U.S. Senate’s Committees
and Subcommittees, the U.S. House of Representative’s Committees and Subcommittees,
the SEC, FINRA, the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (“SIPC”),
and other government agencies involved in the Stanford case; and
internationally: to the International Monetary Fund (“IMF”),
the European Commission (“EC”), the European Council, etc.
5.
Writing protests:
·
Production,
publication and distribution of protests for actions and arbitrary decisions
that are damaging to us.
6.
Writing and delivery of emails:
·
To the
Receivers, the Examiner, the US Legislators and other authorities involved in
the Stanford case.
·
To our
friends registered in our Coalition.
·
To our
advisors.
·
To the
media (press, radio, etc.).
7.
Diffusion of our letters and documents:
·
Electronically
(Internet).
·
Via fax.
·
Via
Courier with “Delivery Confirmation”.
·
Press
Releases.
8.
Guidance in how to present your claims before the Authorities of the Stanford
case:
·
In the
U.S. Receivership of the Stanford Financial Group (Ralph Janvey, Receiver –
Dallas, Texas) http://www.stanfordfinancialclaims.com/
·
At the
SEC, Administrative Claim – SF 95 (Deadline was Feb. 16, 2011)
9.
Actions:
· Setting strategies to confront the U.S. advantage.
· Following the actions by the Stanford Investors’
Committee, promoting initiatives that are favorable to all of us, and opposing
its decisions that might be adverse to our interests.
· Exercising controllership of our assets.
· Continuing to maintain communications with the
Receivers, the Examiner, Judges, Legislators, politicians, news reporters,
etc., to claim justice and support in our fight.
· Continuing to pressure all the agencies involved in
the Stanford case, so that the US Government restitutes our stolen money.
· Continuing to be present in the media so that the
voices of the non-US victims are heard with the necessary force.
· Traveling to Dallas, Washington, D.C. and Antigua when
the judicial or political actions require it.
The importance of COVISAL:
With the experience of
the work that we performed, beginning in February 2009, COVISAL would like to
share the following reflections:
Ø Why is
it imperative that a strong COVISAL voice is heard every day, in all scenarios? It is surprising that this scam involves legislators,
regulatory and justice entities of the U.S. Government, and officials who are
still active, playing key positions within these institutions. Therefore, it is
necessary to continue exerting maximum political pressure in order to compel
the U.S. government to step up and take responsibility for the money that was
stolen, before its very eyes.
Ø We ask: Is it fair
that today we quietly accept the legal interpretations of these same government
entities, which for more than a decade did not apply the law to R. Allen
Stanford, and now pretend to apply the law to the innocent victims, defrauded
because of their gross negligence? Is this not an immorality?
Ø Why is
it that COVISAL is convinced that individually, no victim will be able to
accomplish the restitution of their money? Through the study and analysis of dozens of documents of
the Stanford case, we have learned in depth that the true magnitude of this
social catastrophe exceeds the financial arena, to land in the political and
criminal arenas as well.
Ø For this reason, we ask again: Would a non-US victim be
able to successfully confront the American advantage in solitary, to claim
justice and demand her rights before the U.S. Congress, the SEC, the SIPC or
the Department of Justice (DOJ)? We
are convinced that only united as an organized collective would we have the
necessary strength to forcefully demand that the U.S. Government look beyond
their own interests and take responsibility for the money that was vilely
robbed from us.
Ø Similarly, we wonder: Have
the victims who signed with lawyers received permanent information and
effective support regarding their situation and expectations? Have the victims
received from the official Authorities of the Stanford case or from any law
firm, orientation on how to present their Administrative Claims?
Ø The fight for equal treatment for all non-US victims will
get harder every day, and until now no one has been interested in taking
leadership. COVISAL must continue to act with force, discovering deceit and
manipulations, just as we did with the SIPC.
Ø Some U.S. citizens wish that the non-US victims would
remain quiet, with a passive attitude. Others simply threaten us because they
hope that we will be scared to demand our rights.
Dear reader, this is the
moment to coincide principles with actions.
Together let us claim justice!
Sincerely,
/s/ Jaime R. Escalona
Jaime R. Escalona
Director
Coalición Víctimas de Stanford América Latina (COViSAL)
Twitter: @COVISAL
Caracas:
(0412) 617 2438 (0414) 377 5898
TEXAS: (512) 377 6133 (214)
377 0355
The nature of the work of COViSAL is
research, information and dissemination.
It should NOT be interpreted as legal advice..