Allen Stanford Ponzi Scheme

[scion]

SFO eyes possible London link to Stanford

Fri Feb 20, 7:12 am ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090220/wl_uk_afp/usfinancefraudjusticestanfordcricketbritain

LONDON (AFP) - Investigators were monitoring a possible London link to Allen Stanford's alleged 9.2-billion-dollar (6.4-billion-pound) fraud, after reports that a small accountancy firm here audited his books, a spokesman said Friday.

The Serious Fraud Office has not launched a formal investigation into connnections with the Texan tycoon, but was following the press reports and liaising with other law enforcement agencies, the SFO spokesman told AFP.

"We are monitoring the situation. It doesn't constitute a criminal investigation. It's an early alert. We have to be alert if there are any UK connections that have to be looked at," he said.

The comments came after reports, initially in the Evening Standard newspaper but followed by The Times on Friday, tracing the 58-year-old Stanford's auditor to a terraced house in the north London suburb of Enfield.

Accountancy firm CAS Hewlett was originally run from Antigua by its founder Charlesworth Shelley Hewlett but when he died last month aged 72, operations transferred to the firm's London office listed as Southbury Road, Enfield.

It is suggested that Mr Hewlett's daughter Celia took charge of running the practice -- but The Times quoted her as saying she knew nothing about the whole affair.

"All of this has come as a complete surprise," said Celia Hewlett-Ola, whose main job is in the accounts department at the Royal College of Art in London, according to The Times.

"I don't know anything and have nothing to do with the fraud. I have never had dealings with Mr Stanford, although my deceased father, the founder and owner of CAS Hewlett and Co, had dealings with him."

The SFO spokesman said it had only heard of the accountancy firm's name from the press, adding: "We are liaising with other bodies and law enforcement agencies, to see if there is any intelligence."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090220/wl_uk_afp/usfinancefraudjusticestanfordcricketbritain