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Pete Sessions

Texas Paper On Cornyn and Sessions' Stanford Ties: "What Were They Thinking?"

Zachary Roth | March 4, 2009, 11:05AM

Are lawmakers who took those Antiguan junkets on Allen Stanford's dime paying a political price back home?

It's hard to say. But John Cornyn and Pete Sessions, the Texas GOP senator and congressman respectively, can't be psyched about this Dallas Morning News editorial.

"What were they thinking?" asks the piece in its lead, pointing out that Cornyn and Sessions must have known when they accepted those trips that Stanford would have been looking to curry favor.

The editors conclude, a bit lamely:

Sessions and Cornyn have donated $9,000 of those funds to charity. They would be wise to donate the rest - and to use better judgment next time.

The paper might have added that Sessions would also be wise to ensure that his staff doesn't misinform reporters about the nature of the congressman's relationship with Stanford.

Still, it's a start.

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Topics: Allen Stanford, John Cornyn, Pete Sessions, Stanford Financial Group

Stanford Provided Majority Of Funds For Group That Sponsored Lawmaker Junkets

Zachary Roth | March 2, 2009, 12:34PM

From the start of the Allen Stanford mess, we've sort of had a hunch that the Inter-American Economic Council -- which paid for several Caribbean junkets and other events for US lawmakers -- was largely a creature of the Texas billionaire. And that hunch is looking increasingly accurate.

The Dallas Morning News reports that in 2005, the year the IAEC funded that big trip to Antigua for lawmakers of both parties that we posted pictures of, Stanford Financial provided 85 percent of the IAEC's revenue, according to its president, Barry Featherman.

Featherman also told the DMN that the IAEC raises no money except for the funds it receives from sponsors like Stanford for specific events. In other words, the organization exists, it appears, only to hold events with public officials.

And Featherman added that the group hasn't paid for any trips since 2007, thanks mostly to ethics rules passed by the new Democratic Congress early in that year, which banned House members from accepting free trips on private planes.

There are some other interesting nuggets in the DMN story. The paper reports that Tom DeLay "made at least 11 trips on Stanford planes between 2003 and 2006, according to federal campaign finance records."

And remember how the office of Texas GOP congressman Pete Sessions first claimed that Sessions didn't know Stanford personally -- a claim that was undone when we posted pictures of the two men schmoozing on that 2005 trip to Antigua? Well it looks like Sessions was getting more than just a nice Caribbean trip out of Stanford. The DMN reports that in 2004 when, thanks to redistricting, Sessions was in a razor-tight race to hold onto his Congressional seat against the powerful incumbent Democrat Martin Frost, Stanford's company came to the rescue, giving $37,875 in the final weeks of the race.

Separately, it looks like Team Stanford is staying mum on the charges that it orchestrated an $8 billion fraud. James Davis, Stanford's college roommate and the number two at Stanford Financial, who has also been charged in the SEC complaint, took the Fifth last week under questioning by agency investigators.

And last week, Laura Pendergest-Holt, the company's chief investment officer, was charged with criminally obstructing the SEC probe. The FBI filed court documents claiming Pendergest-Holt made "misrepresentations" about her knowledge of Stanford's investment portfolio, and about whether she met with other Stanford officials to prepare for her testimony. The charge may be evidence that the government is trying to flip Pendergest-Holt to testify about Stanford himself.

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Topics: Allen Stanford, Pete Sessions, Stanford Financial Group

Allen Stanford

Through Obscure Non-Profit, Stanford Wooed Lawmakers

Zachary Roth | February 20, 2009, 6:58PM

By now, we've all seen those pictures of Allen Stanford hobnobbing with lawmakers in Antigua. But, with the exception of one trip by Sen. John Cornyn, it wasn't Stanford himself who picked up the tab for these jaunts -- it was an obscure outfit called the Inter-American Economic Council.

And taking a closer look at the IAEC, and its ties to Stanford, sheds some light on how the Texas billionaire gained access to all those members of Congress -- and what he hoped to gain by doing so.

The IAEC's website says that the Washington-based group was founded in 1999 and that it aims to "provide senior Government Officials, leading Business Executives, and Academic Professionals the opportunity to engage in a dialogue about current and future economic strategies in the Hemisphere." And in 2003, the Associated Press reported (via Nexis) that, according to IAEC president Barry Featherman, the organization "relies mostly on contributions from U.S. corporations."

But the group appears to have remarkably close ties to Stanford himself. In this 2006 report, Bloomberg described Stanford as a "principal backer" of the organization. And Stanford Financial told Bloomberg that it had "donated the use of its aircraft" to the IAEC for one 2006 trip to Jamaica that four Democratic lawmakers went on.

That same year, the IAEC gave Stanford its "Excellence in Leadership" award. A press release put out by the group (since removed from its website) declared that Stanford "has strongly supported the work that the IAEC is doing in Latin America and the Caribbean."

Stanford also appears to have taken advantage of IAEC-funded events by showing up personally to schmooze lawmakers. We already posted these shots of current or former lawmakers including Katherine Harris, Pete Sessions, Tom Feeney, James Clyburn, and John Sweeney chilling with Stanford and Caribbean dignitaries in Antigua in 2005.

But there's also another set of interesting shots from the previous year, showing Stanford breaking bread with, and addressing, lawmakers -- including former GOP congressman Bob Ney (since jailed for taking bribes from Jack Abramoff) -- at an IAEC-sponsored event in Washington.

(You can see the slideshow of photographs from that event here.)

What was Stanford talking to lawmakers about? An IAEC press release from (via Nexis) from the event gives a hint. It says that in his speech, Stanford "addressed the need to streamline regulatory regimes that make it difficult for investors to take advantage of all of the opportunities that exist in the region."

And that same year, Newsday reported (via Nexis) on an IAEC-sponsored trip to Jamaica that included Democratic congressman Gregory Meeks. The IAEC, said the paper, hoped to "ease Patriot Act restrictions on offshore banking," and that according to Meeks, "the trip was an effort by the Inter-American Economic Council to explain the hardships the act has imposed on Caribbean banks."

In other words, Stanford and the IAEC used these events to try to convince lawmakers not to crack down on tax loopholes that work to benefit offshore banking -- exactly the loopholes that allowed Stanford to operate his alleged multi-billion-dollar scam, free from regulatory scrutiny, for so long .

In fact, the IAEC even seems to have used its clout to create a new congressional caucus -- the Caribbean Caucus -- made up of may of the lawmakers who went on the IAEC-backed trips.

After one such trip in 2003, attended by then-Rep. Phil Crane (R-IL), among others, Featherman, the IAEC president, revealed that "Congress is expected to form an informal, bipartisan Caribbean caucus to focus on issues of interest to the region," according to the AP (via Nexis).

The Caribbean Caucus would at various times include, among others, Ney, Meeks, Sweeney, Sessions, Feeney, Charlie Rangel, Mel Watt, Donald Payne, Phil English, Steve Chabot, Donna Christensen, Diane Watson, and Al Wynn, all of whom went to events on IAEC's dime.

Indeed, Stanford seems to have had some sway not only over the IAEC, but over the membership of the Caribbean Caucus itself. That Bloomberg story from 2006 reports that it was Stanford himself who asked Sessions to become a member of the caucus. Sessions seems to have agreed.

The IAEC is staying mum about its relationship to Stanford -- it hasn't returned either of TPMmuckraker's calls over the last few days. And the office of Rep. Payne, who was at one time listed as a co-chair, along with Ney, of the Caribbean Caucus, declined to make anyone available to answer TPMmuckraker's questions.

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Topics: Allen Stanford, Bob Ney, Charles Rangel, Jack Abramoff, John Cornyn, John Sweeney, Katherine Harris, Pete Sessions, Stanford Financial Group, Tom Feeney

Allen Stanford

Sessions-Stanford: The Pics Keep Coming

Zachary Roth | February 20, 2009, 11:43AM

Just in case you were still wondering whether Pete Sessions and Allen Stanford know each other, here's another picture of them on that same Antiguan trip, this one posted on the website of the Antiguan government:

Sessions's press secretary told Bloomberg that the congressman did not know Stanford personally.

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Topics: Allen Stanford, Pete Sessions, Stanford Financial Group

Allen Stanford

Stanford Pitched Sessions On Protecting Off-Shore Loopholes

Zachary Roth | February 20, 2009, 11:16AM

Earlier this morning, we caught the office of GOP congressman Pete Sessions falsely telling a reporter that Sessions didn't know Allen Stanford personally. (Check out this pic for the evidence he did.)

And here's another interesting example of Sessions and Stanford crossing paths.

A 2004 press release (via Nexis), put out by the Stanford-linked Inter-American Economic Council, touts a meeting the IAEC organized with Caribbean officials and members of Congress, including Sessions.

It declares:

Mr. Allen Stanford spoke about the need for additional assistance to the nations devastated by the hurricanes. He also addressed the need to streamline regulatory regimes that make it difficult for investors to take advantage of all of the opportunities that exist in the region.

In other words, Sessions was at a meeting at at which Stanford pressed lawmakers to leave open the loopholes that benefit off-shore corporations.

A few months later, Sessions and colleagues would fly to Antigua on the IAEC's dime to talk further about the issue.

It's also worth noting that Sessions and Texas GOP senator John Cornyn, unlike a slew of other lawmakers, have declined to return Stanford's money.

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Topics: Allen Stanford, John Cornyn, Pete Sessions, Stanford Financial Group

Allen Stanford

Pete Sessions' Office Falsely Claims He Didn't Know Stanford

Zachary Roth | February 20, 2009, 10:13AM

Here's a fun one...

With lawmakers scrambling to distance themselves from Allen Stanford, Bloomberg reports:

Representative Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican, got $41,375 [from Stanford's firm]. Spokeswoman Emily Davis said Sessions didn't know Stanford personally.

But check out this picture we posted the other day. It's from that 2005 junket that a group of lawmakers took to Antigua (paid for by the Stanford-linked Inter-American Economic Council) and it shows Sessions, now the NRCC chair, happily chatting with the cricket-loving billionaire.

And in 2006, Sessions' chief of staff told Bloomberg that the two men did know each other -- indeed, that Stanford asked Sessions to become a member of the Caribbean Caucus.

We're guessing that Davis' claim won't remain operative too long. We've contacted her and will let you know what we hear.

Thanks to reader T.D. for the tip.

Late Update: Davis responded via email: "No comment."

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Topics: Allen Stanford, Pete Sessions, Stanford Financial Group

Allen Stanford

The Daily Stanford

Zachary Roth | February 19, 2009, 11:02AM

The developments in the Allen Stanford case are coming thick and fast. Let's get up to speed:

- ABC News reported that the FBI has been investigating whether Stanford laundered money for a Mexican drug cartel.

- Bloomberg reported that the FBI is separately investigating Stanford's fraud and seems likely to bring criminal charges. (To date, Stanford has not been criminally charged.)

- The New York Times reported that both the SEC and FINRA had investigated Stanford in recent years, and merely issued a few fines, despite the existence of "major red flags" in the words of one expert. (More on that to come.)

- Some members of Congress said they'd return donations from Stanford. But others, like GOPers John Cornyn and Pete Sessions said they'd keep the loot!

- The government of Venezuela took over a local Stanford bank.

- Latin Americans and Caribbeans scrambled to get their money out of Stanford banks.

- Former Swiss President Adolf Ogi said he would resign from the board of Stanford Financial Group.

- And maybe most worryingly, the SEC has admitted it doesn't know where Stanford is.

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Topics: Allen Stanford, FBI, John Cornyn, Pete Sessions, Securities and Exchange Commission

Pete Sessions

CREW Files Criminal Complaint against Sessions

Paul Kiel | April 19, 2006, 11:27AM

So many lawmakers were mixed up with Jack Abramoff that it can be hard to decide who should get special attention; but CREW thinks the Justice Department should take a much closer look at Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX).

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Topics: Pete Sessions