Allen Stanford’s Close Ties To Texas Politicians

The Dallas Morning News has a god story up on Allen Stanford’s close ties to Texas politicians including Pete Sessions and John Cornyn:

Yet Stanford’s history in Washington suggests he has been an aggressive advocate for legislation that could affect his financial-services empire, which purported to manage over $50 billion in assets when it was sued by the SEC.

In 1999, Stanford Financial lobbied vigorously against an effort to crack down on money laundering, according to Public Citizen, a watchdog group that published a report on the group’s legislative activities. Among other things, the legislation required banks to confirm the identity of people who deposited money and to determine the source of their funds.

Senate ‘killed’ bill

The legislation passed the House Financial Services Committee in June 2000. But the Senate Banking Committee, led in 2000 by former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, declined to consider the bill. Gramm later boasted to the Institute of International Bankers that he “killed the administration’s anti-money-laundering legislation.”

“Early on, Sen. Phil Gramm, then head of the Senate Banking Committee, and his Texas colleagues in the House, Tom DeLay and Dick Armey, strongly opposed our legislation,” said Stuart E. Eizenstat, who was deputy secretary of the Treasury at the time. “It now turns out they may have been influenced by Stanford, but we didn’t know that at the time.”

Mr. Gramm didn’t return a phone call seeking comment, although a former aide to the senator said Gramm was unfamiliar with Stanford. A spokeswoman for DeLay didn’t respond to an e-mail message Friday seeking comment.

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