WAFB Channel 9, Baton Rouge, LA |Stanford victims get money back

Stanford victims get money back

By David Spunt - email

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - Hundreds of victims of an alleged $7 billion Ponzi scheme are celebrating after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ordered court-appointed receiver, Ralph Janvey, to return millions back to innocent investors.

Hundreds of Stanford investors live in the Baton Rouge area. One of those is Central resident Debbie Dougherty. She says it is still hard to believe she will see her life savings again. She lost more than one million dollars last February when the federal authorities raided the offices of Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford.

“Our federal government messed up big time on this. It’s very emotional, but it's bittersweet,” said Dougherty.

The reason Dougherty got her money back is because she cashed her certificates of deposit before Stanford was raided. The ones who did not, most likely will not get money back at this time Dougherty said.

"It's taken a lot out of us over the last nine months. We've been trying to get our lives together. It's taken a long time to recover,” said Troy Lillie, another victim who is set to get $1 million back.

Lillie retired from Exxon four years ago. Since losing more than a million dollars, he picked up another job, to help feed his family. While Lillie is thrilled with the payback, he says he has not forgotten the thousands who may never see a penny.

“It's hard to be real joyful about it because you have so many friends who are in the same situation and they've got to continue with what we've been dealing with the past nine months,” Lillie said.

R. Allen Stanford is currently in a Houston prison. A trial date has not been set.

Copyright 2009 WAFB. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.