Stanford Difference

No one is able to say for sure just how much Arkansas money is tied up – or lost entirely – in the Stanford Group, the Houston investment firm that has (had?) a medium-sized office in downtown Little Rock.

That $300 million figure that’s being tossed around? Your guess is as good as ours.

Even the first lawsuit filed here – by Hannah Kay Peck and the Peck Family Trust – contains not a single dollar sign.

But we do know that the number is going to be in eight digits at a minimum. Law firms in Little Rock have been approached by individual investors with between $5 million and $10 million invested in Stanford. And the Peck trust isn’t the only local investor in those certificates of deposits issued by “Sir Allen” Stanford’s banks in Antigua.

Are there Arkansans who bought Stanford CDs with money borrowed from local banks because the promised interest spread was just that good? Our sources say yes.

We can also tell you that some Little Rock law firms have declined to take on Stanford cases. One lawyer explained it this way: “We figured out there’s no way to get paid.”