{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cochran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=5f58796b-ed56-4063-86b3-609c89db2554", "MISS. DELEGATION MEMBERS CALL FOR SEC TO APPEAL PONZI SCHEME RULING", "2014-08-11", "2014", "2014-08", "Republican", "House", "MS", "Thad Cochran", "C000567", "www.cochran.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Members of Mississippi\u2019s congressional delegation, including U.S. Senators Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and U.S. Representatives Gregg Harper (R-Miss.), Alan Nunnelee (R-Miss.), and Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.), today called on Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Mary Jo White to appeal a recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals regarding the Ponzi scheme perpetrated by R. Allen Stanford.\r\nThe court found that thousands of investors who were cheated in this Ponzi scheme, including many Mississippians, are not eligible for financial compensation.\r\nThe full text of the letter:\r\nDear Chair White:\r\nWe are writing at the request of our Mississippi constituents who were profoundly and adversely affected by the Ponzi scheme perpetrated by R. Allen Stanford.\u00a0 These Mississippians are among thousands of investors across the country who lost billions of dollars in this Ponzi scheme.\u00a0 On their behalf, we respectfully request that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit, in the matter of SEC v. SIPC.\u00a0\r\nAs you know, the U.S. Court of Appeals last month ruled that the approximately 7,000 investors in certificates of deposit sold by Mr. Stanford were not eligible for the insurance coverage that the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) ordinarily extends to defrauded investors.\u00a0 The judge\u2019s ruling was a huge disappointment to these investors, especially when you consider that Mr. Stanford was convicted of multiple accounts of wire fraud, mail fraud, and other charges.\u00a0 He currently is serving a 110-year prison sentence for his misdeeds, and his Ponzi scheme is one of the largest in history.\u00a0\r\nCongress passed the Securities Investor Protection Act of 1970 (SIPA) in order to enhance investor confidence by protecting customers of SIPC-member broker dealers.\u00a0 It is difficult to draw a meaningful distinction between our constituents and the victims of other Ponzi schemes in which the victims were deemed eligible for SIPC coverage.\u00a0 However, investor confidence may suffer if investors perceive that they cannot consistently rely on SIPC to protect them when they are swindled by the owner of a SIPC-member firm.\r\nWe applaud your efforts to date to seek justice for our constituents, and we encourage you to continue to back the SEC\u2019s original position that many of the Stanford victims are entitled to SIPC coverage.\u00a0 We note, too, that the final outcome in the case will set an important legal precedent.\r\nFor all of these reasons, we respectfully urge you and the rest of the Commission to act promptly to appeal last month\u2019s ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals.\u00a0 Thank you for your attention to this matter.\u00a0\r\nSincerely,\r\nThad Cochran  Roger Wicker  Gregg Harper  Alan Nunnelee  Steven Palazzo\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=5f58796b-ed56-4063-86b3-609c89db2554"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9363710414618254, "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"}