Minister to 'vigorously' defend lawsuit by Stanford investors

Antigua's National Security Minister Dr Errol Cort says he will "vigorously defend" the million-dollar lawsuit filed against him by former investors in the Antigua-based Stanford International Bank (SIB).

Cort said that while he was aware of media reports that Stanford victims had named him in a lawsuit, he is yet to receive official notification of the action.

"I advise that I have no formal knowledge of this action as no legal documents have been served on me," he said in a written statement late on Thursday.

"Notwithstanding, if in fact a lawsuit has been instituted, I advise that I will vigorously defend any action that has been brought against me," he added.

Cort was Antigua and Barbuda's finance minister between 2004 and 2009.

The claim against him was among more than a dozen "fraudulent transfer" lawsuits, totalling US$25 million, filed Wednesday by the Official Stanford Investors Committee and court-appointed receiver Ralph Janvey.

Edward Valdespino, an attorney for the investors committee, highlighted in the complaint that Cort had "direct oversight of the Antigua and Barbuda government's offshore banking regulator, the Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC)" whose regulation of Stanford's companies the lawyer described as "a sham".

Former FSRC administrator Leroy King, who was indicted in the US in 2009 for allegedly accepting bribes from Stanford, was not named in the suit. King is fighting his extradition in the local courts.

The disgruntled investors claim that the former finance minister had direct oversight of the FSRC — the entity what regulated Stanford's companies.

They also allege that Dr Cort, whose law firm once represented Stanford, received US$1.1 million from the Houston-based financier between 2006 and 2009.

- CMC