Money manager Robert Allen Stanford now has two things in common with embattled investment manager Bernard Madoff: both have come under scrutiny for allegedly defrauding their investors, and both have given significant funds to politicians. The Securities and Exchange Commission today accused Stanford, chief of Stanford Financial Group, of “fraud in the sale of about $8 billion of high-yielding certificates of deposit held in the firm’s bank in Antigua,” according to the New York Times.

Between its PAC and its employees, Stanford Financial Group has given $2.4 million to federal candidates (including both candidate committees and leadership PACs), parties and committees since 2000, with 65 percent of that going to Democrats. Stanford and his wife, Susan, have given $931,100 out of their own pockets, with 78 percent going to Democrats. The top recipients of cash in the current Congress include Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who received $45,900; Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), who collected $41,375; and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who brought in $28,150. (For a full list of recipients in the 111th Congress, see below. For a full list of party committees and lawmakers, past and present, who have collected money from Stanford Financial Group, go here.)

The company gave the most during the 2002 election cycle, when Congress was debating the Financial Services Antifraud Network Act, a bill that would have created a computer network linking the databases of state and federal banking, securities and insurance regulators to curb financial fraud. Lobbying reports indicate that Stanford Financial Group lobbied on the bill, which the House passed but the Senate did not. Nelson was vice chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee during the ’02 cycle, when the DSCC collected more than $800,000 from the company. (UPDATE 2/18/09: A spokesman for Nelson pointed out to Capital Eye that Nelson was not a member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, where the antifraud act appears to have stalled in 2001. Nelson’s spokesman said the senator supported the bill, which Stanford presumably opposed.)

Stanford Financial Group has spent a total of $4.8 million on lobbying efforts since 1999, primarily on issues related to money laundering, financial services and banking. Last year the firm’s lobbying spiked by more than 300 percent, totaling $2.2 million, by far the most it has ever reported spending. In addition to sending its own in-house lobbyists to Capitol Hill, the company also hired lobbying shop Ben Barnes Group last year to represent its interests.

These members of the 111th Congress have received contributions from the PAC and/or employees of the Stanford Financial Group since 2000 (includes contributions to both candidate committees and leadership PACs):

Name Total Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla) $45,900 Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) $41,375 Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz)* $28,150 Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn) $27,500 Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) $19,700 Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) $17,000 Rep. Charlie A. Gonzalez (D-Texas) $15,500 Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY) $15,100 Rep. Pete Olson (R-Texas)* $14,500 Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala) $14,000 Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-NY)* $11,800 Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss) $8,800 Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev) $8,500 Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) $7,300 Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) $7,000 Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) $6,900 Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) $6,100 Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash) $6,000 Del. Donna Christian-Green (D-VI) $5,000 Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WVa) $5,000 Rep. Donald M. Payne (D-NJ) $5,000 Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) $5,000 Rep. Dan Maffei (D-NY) $4,550 Rep. Michael Arcuri (D-NY) $4,000 Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-ND) $4,000 Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-Mass) $4,000 Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD) $3,500 Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill) $3,500 Rep. Kendrick B. Meek (D-Fla) $3,500 Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va) $3,000 Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn) $3,000 Rep. Melvin L. Watt (D-NC) $3,000 Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-SC) $3,000 Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) $2,550 Rep. Michael E. McMahon (D-NY) $2,550 Rep. Vernon Buchanan (R-Fla) $2,500 Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga) $2,500 Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va) $2,500 Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla) $2,500 Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss) $2,500 Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) $2,500 Rep. Stephen Ira Cohen (D-Tenn) $2,500 Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn) $2,500 Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) $2,500 Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski (D-Pa) $2,500 Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich) $2,500 Rep. Adam H. Putnam (R-Fla) $2,500 Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La) $2,500 Rep. Walter Clifford Minnick (D-Idaho) $2,300 Rep. John A. Boccieri (D-Ohio) $2,300 Rep. Deborah Halvorson (D-Ill) $2,300 Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) $2,000 Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) $2,000 Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) $2,000 Rep. Patrick J. Tiberi (R-Ohio) $2,000 Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala) $2,000 Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) $2,000 Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) $2,000 Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla) $2,000 Rep. Pete King (R-NY) $1,500 Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas) $1,500 Rep. Charles W. Boustany Jr (R-La) $1,500 Rep. David Scott (D-Ga) $1,500 Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) $1,500 Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del) $1,000 Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) $1,000 Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La) $1,000 Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WVa) $1,000 Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif) $1,000 Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan) $1,000 Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash) $1,000 Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) $1,000 Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) $1,000 Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) $1,000 Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass) $1,000 Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass) $1,000 Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn) $1,000 Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga) $1,000 Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont) $1,000 Sen. John Thune (R-SD) $500 Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (D-Texas) $500 Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla) $500 Rep. Robert E Latta (R-Ohio) $500 Sen. David Vitter (R-La) $500 Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) $500 Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Miss) $250 Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) $250

*Additional funds were raised by joint fundraising committees this politician controlled. Some of those funds were then distributed to other politicians, and are included, where applicable, in totals for other beneficiaries listed above.



CRP Senior Researcher Douglas Weber contributed to this report

CRP In the News

Here are some of the media citations of CRP’s data on Stanford Financial.

Lobbying Firm’s Ties to Democrats Under Scrutiny (NPR, Feb. 19, 2009)

S.E.C. Fines Didn’t Avert Stanford Group Case (New York Times, Feb. 18, 2009)

President’s fund gives value of tainted Stanford campaign donation to charity (Chicago Tribune, Feb. 18, 2009)

Dodd on hot seat again (Connecticut Post, Feb. 18, 2009)



McCain took $28k from fraud suspect (Politico, Feb. 18, 2009)

Stanford Wielded Jets, Junkets and Crickets to Woo Clients (Bloomberg, Feb. 18, 2009)

Stanford was looking for Washington’s embrace (Reuters, Feb. 17, 2009)

Financier gave campaign cash to Sen. Bill Nelson, others (Orlando Sentinel, Feb. 18, 2009)

Cornyn spokesman says Stanford paid for 4-day trip to Caribbean (Dallas Morning News, Feb. 18, 2009)

ABCNews.com and “Good Morning America” segment featuring CRP executive director, Sheila Krumholz



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