Stanford investors seek to block Antigua\'s IMF loan

As Antigua and Barbuda awaits final word from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a loan it says it needs, victims of the alleged Stanford fraud are trying to stop the twin-island nation from accessing any funds from the lending agency, according to a report on www.caribbean360.com.



In its latest campaign against the island, the Stanford Victims Coalition (SVC), through lawyers from the New York firm Morgenstern & Blue LLC, has written to members of Congress to get help blocking any IMF loan.



Antigua and Barbuda recently held talks with the Washington-based institution and are close to a final deal, although the amount it would receive has not yet been finalised.



But the SVC, an international advocacy group formed after the collapse of Sir Allen Stanford\'s empire, wants to prevent Antigua and Barbuda from getting any money unless it takes steps to compensate those who lost their money in the US$8 billion fraud which US authorities said Stanford committed through his Antigua-based Stanford International Bank (SIB).



In July, SIB investors filed a lawsuit seeking up to US$24 billion in damages from the island\'s government. The SVC said the lawsuit was a message to the Antigua government that it would be held accountable for trying \"to turn a blind eye to the investors from around the world who have been devastated by this alleged crime\".



The group has also been appealing directly to US President Barack Obama as they try desperately to recoup the money they have lost.