Allen Stanford Ponzi Scheme

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Some members of the caucus have taken actions that may have helped Stanford Financial, such as opposing rules restricting aid to offshore tax havens. Ney praised Allen Stanford in the Congressional Record on Sept. 15, 2005. ``I join with the residents of the entire 18th Congressional district of Ohio in honoring and congratulating Allen R. Stanford for his outstanding achievements,' Ney said.

Ney spokesman Brian Walsh said the lawmaker's words were ``perfectly logical' because Ney, the Caribbean Caucus co- chairman, was praising Stanford for his award from the council. Ney received at least $12,000 from Stanford employees in 2004, ranking third among members of Congress in Stanford donations for that election behind Sessions and Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, according to FEC records.

The Caribbean trips sponsored by the council leave lawmakers with leisure time. A trip last year didn't have any mandatory events scheduled after 11 a.m., other than lunches and dinners, and included a stay at Antigua's Carlisle Bay Hotel, where rooms in January can go for $990 a night, according to its Web site.

This year's event was busier, and included a tour of real- estate and road projects, the port of Kingston, and the site of a 2007 cricket tournament, as well as meetings with business leaders and Jamaican cabinet officials.

To contact the reporters on this story: Mike Forsythe in Washington [e-mail] Alison Fitzgerald in Washington at [e-mail].
Last Updated: January 20, 2006 16:23 EST

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