Antigua fires regulator, US wants him held

Leroy King is facing seven counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, 10 counts of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, conspiracy to launder illegal proceeds, and conspiracy to obstruct the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigations into Sir

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, June 24, 2009 – The boss of Antigua and Barbuda’s Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC) has been fired, in an expected move by Cabinet, following his indictment on charges related to the alleged assistance he gave to Sir Allen Stanford in carrying out a US$8 billion fraud. And authorities in the United States have reportedly asked that he be detained in the island pending an extradition request.

Attorney General Justin Simon said in a press release issued yesterday evening that Leroy King, who was suspended last Thursday, was fired as administrator and Chief Executive Officer at the FSRC.

“Cabinet has decided to accept the commission’s recommendation that Mr King be dismissed from the commission with immediate effect,” the brief statement stated in part.

The FSRC had indicated in a statement issued on Friday, when news broke that King had been implicated in the Stanford debacle, that it sent him on leave in March pending an investigation into his conduct as it related to Stanford International Bank (SIB), Sir Allen and a number of other matters.

It said after King could not explain his “questionable conduct” when given a final opportunity to do so last Thursday, the Board immediately suspended him based on its findings that he had, among other things, “deliberately or negligently failed to inform the Board of various questionable decisions he had taken regarding SIB”.

The Antigua Commercial Bank also severed its relationship with King earlier this week. He had been on the bank’s Board of Directors since September last year. 

King is facing seven counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, 10 counts of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, conspiracy to launder illegal proceeds, and conspiracy to obstruct the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigations into Sir Allen and his companies.

It has been alleged that he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from Sir Allen to ensure that SIB was not the subject of close scrutiny by Antiguan and US regulators. King has also been accused of conducting sham audits and examinations of SIB’s books and records.

Meantime, Sir Allen is expected to have a hearing tomorrow on whether he should get bail on the criminal fraud charges. The matter will be heard in Houston, Texas, following his transfer from Virginia where he first appeared on the charges last Friday.