The business of the cricket-loving Texan billionaire accused of a $US8 billion ($NZ16 billion) fraud stretches as far as New Zealand.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) moved against R Allen Stanford and partners on Tuesday US time alleging "a fraud of shocking magnitude that has spread its tentacles throughout the world".
In an email to his employees last week, the billionaire said his company was cooperating with the probe, and vowed to "fight with every breath to continue to uphold our good name and continue the legacy we have built together".
The website of the Stanford Trust Company has details of a Stanford Trust Company (New Zealand), which provides access to offshore trusts.
"New Zealand offers and attractive jurisdiction for the establishment of trusts as tax planning vehicles," the website said.
Stanford Trust Company (New Zealand) has an office in Wellington.
A search of the Companies Office showed the company has one director, Gordon Ralph Stewart. Its offices are at a house in Tinakori Road.
Mr Stewart is a director of about 100 companies, including Christchurch-based Applefields, according to Companies Office records.
International news agencies reported today that investors in Mexico and Venezuela engaged in a frantic quest to track down their savings as the fraud scandal enveloping Stanford Group Co spread to Latin America.
Some customers arrived in Antigua by private jet and were driven up the lushly landscaped driveway of the bank's headquarters, only to be told that all assets have been frozen pending an investigation by Antiguan banking regulators.
The SEC civil complaint named Stanford International Bank (SIB), based in Antigua with 30,000 clients in 131 countries and $US8.5b in assets, and the group's Houston-based broker-dealer and investment adviser units.
In all, the company claims to oversee $US50b in assets.
Stanford, 58, is a larger-than-life figure in the Caribbean and a major player in US politics.
US regulators have accused Stanford, two other executives and three of their companies of luring investors with promises of "improbable and unsubstantiated" high returns on certificates of deposit and other investments.
Many details about the alleged fraud remain unclear, but the SEC alleges a pattern of secrecy, including a failure to disclose the bank's exposure to losses by in money manager Bernard Madoff's alleged Ponzi scheme.
A federal judge appointed a receiver to identify and protect Stanford's assets worldwide.
