{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cochran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=037979d2-8ec6-40d6-a1b0-01aa9081b160", "COCHRAN:  INVESTOR PROTECTION AGENCY COMPOUNDS STANFORD VICTIMS' LOSSES", "2014-07-11", "2014", "2014-07", "Republican", "House", "MS", "Thad Cochran", "C000567", "www.cochran.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Expressing frustration that Mississippians have been unable to recover any of the nearly $65 million they lost in the Stanford Ponzi scheme, U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) has asked President Obama to help remake the federal agency created to protect investors from fraud.\r\nCochran joined Senator David Vitter (R-La.) and others in a letter asking the President to fill vacancies on the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) with nominees who have \u201ca demonstrated track record for protecting investors.\u201d\u00a0 There are four open seats on the board, including its chairman.\u00a0 Congress established the SIPC in 1970 to recoup losses, within certain limits, from bankrupt or financially-troubled brokerages.\r\nThe letter expresses sharp dissatisfaction with the SIPC board of directors for its \u201cinherent conflict of interest between protecting its member firms\u2019 financial interests versus protecting investors.\u201d\r\n\u201cThe Securities Investor Protection Corporation, by fighting appeals to support some measure of compensation for Stanford fraud victims, is compounding the losses to investors in Mississippi and around the country,\u201d Cochran said.\r\n\u201cThe refusal to offer such assistance continues to undercut any confidence that investors and the public might have in SIPC.\u00a0 The President has an opportunity to fix that situation by choosing a chairman and new board members who will make it a priority to protect investors,\u201d he said.\r\nCochran has worked consistently to support compensation to victims of the $7.2 billion fraud perpetrated by the Stanford Financial Group.\u00a0 Mississippians lost more than $64.8 million in the scheme.\u00a0 While the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) determined that Stanford victims should be eligible for compensation, SIPC continues to fight that determination.\u00a0 An appeal is currently pending in federal court.\r\nThe eight signers of the letter pledged to support prompt consideration and confirmation of nominees who have a \u201cwillingness to shake up the status quo inside of SIPC.\u201d\r\n\u201cCongress has given SIPC incredible responsibility for protecting investors, and for that reason, it\u2019s vitally important and appropriate that you nominate a pro-investor Chairman who can help change the subversive culture that has choked the investor protection mandate out of SIPC,\u201d the letter states.\r\nIt goes on to state, \u201cIf there is one common theme linking Stanford and the investors in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme, it\u2019s the way SIPC fought investors every step of the way and has absolutely refused to protect the victims of fraud. For more than five years, the Stanford victims have been fighting just to have their day in court, and SIPC has stood in the way.\u00a0 Unfortunately, SIPC - the very entity that was created to protect these investors - has engaged in years of protracted litigation against the SEC in order to avoid a review of individual investor's claims in the District Court for the Northern District of Texas that has already invalidated SIPC\u2019s arguments against protecting Stanford victims.\u201d\r\nIn addition to Vitter and Cochran, the letter was also signed by Senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.).\r\nCochran is a cosponsor of the Restoring Main Street Investor Protection and Confidence Act of 2013 (S.1725), which would reform how SIPC handles investment fraud victims\u2019 compensation cases by amending the Securities Investor Protection Act (SIPA) of 1970.\r\nA copy of the Senators' letter to President Obama is available below.\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cochran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=037979d2-8ec6-40d6-a1b0-01aa9081b160"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9122979827225208, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}