MIAMI, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- A Miami law firm allegedly helped jailed financier R. Allen Stanford establish an unregulated money pipeline to Antigua, The Miami Herald reported Sunday.
The newspaper said in 1998 the firm of Greenberg Traurig helped Stanford, who is charged with running a $7 billion Ponzi scheme, in create a pipeline between Miami and Antigua that became a cornerstone of Stanford's banking empire. That relationship has reportedly been targeted by a court-appointed receiver that is trying to recover money for Stanford's alleged victims.
The Herald said Greenberg Traurig helped Stanford set up a special trust office in Miami that could move millions of dollars overseas without having to report anything to the government.
The firm also allegedly helped Stanford institute changes in Antigua's banking system after a series of money laundering scandals prompted the U.S. Treasury to consider blacklisting all offshore institutions in the Caribbean island, officials say.
The Herald said 1998 Antiguan legislation established a new regulatory agency supported by Stanford that gave him sweeping protection from regulators for the next 10 years.
