Ralph Janvey was dealt a tough hand. The 61-year-old Dallas attorney was appointed in February 2009 to extract assets from the wreckage of R. Allen Stanford’s empire on behalf of harmed investors. The Texas Ponzi schemer’s businesses included 145 separate entities and assets spread out across more than a dozen countries.
However, critics contend that Janvey is making a mess of an already complicated proceeding. Two-and-a-half years into his term as receiver, Janvey has spent a lot and produced little. Some investors are complaining that Janvey’s strategy is flawed, and accuse him of mismanaging funds. The Securities and Exchange Commission, which picked Janvey for the job, criticized his tactics and his spending early on, but since then has been quiet; the agency is now under scrutiny for possible lapses in its oversight of its receiver. Tensions between investors, the receiver, and the SEC are reaching a boiling point.
