releases: https://www.cochran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=037979d2-8ec6-40d6-a1b0-01aa9081b160
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| 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 | legacy | WASHINGTON – 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. Cochran 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 “a demonstrated track record for protecting investors.” There are four open seats on the board, including its chairman. Congress established the SIPC in 1970 to recoup losses, within certain limits, from bankrupt or financially-troubled brokerages. The letter expresses sharp dissatisfaction with the SIPC board of directors for its “inherent conflict of interest between protecting its member firms’ financial interests versus protecting investors.” “The 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,” Cochran said. “The refusal to offer such assistance continues to undercut any confidence that investors and the public might have in SIPC. 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,” he said. Cochran has worked consistently to support compensation to victims of the $7.2 billion fraud perpetrated by the Stanford Financial Group. Mississippians lost more than $64.8 million in the scheme. While the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) determined that Stanford victims should be eligible for compensation, SIPC continues to fight that determination. An appeal is currently pending in federal court. The eight signers of the letter pledged to support prompt consideration and confirmation of nominees who have a “willingness to shake up the status quo inside of SIPC.” “Congress has given SIPC incredible responsibility for protecting investors, and for that reason, it’s 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,” the letter states. It goes on to state, “If there is one common theme linking Stanford and the investors in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme, it’s 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. 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’s arguments against protecting Stanford victims.” In 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.). Cochran 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’ compensation cases by amending the Securities Investor Protection Act (SIPA) of 1970. A copy of the Senators' letter to President Obama is available below. ### | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |