A recent American Lawyer story, “As Stanford Victims Grumble, Court Approves Receiver’s Latest Fee Request” reports that on Tuesday the Dallas federal district court judge overseeing the receivership of alleged Ponzi schemer R. Allen Stanford’s collapsed financial empire, approved the latest $1 million in legal fees requested by receiver Ralph Janvey and the outside law firms advising him.  Federal district court judge David Godbey is expected to rule soon on a July motion to intervene filed by a group of disgruntled Stanford investors who claim their interests are not being are not being adequately represented by the committee appointed by Janvey to fill that role.

Those moving to intervene accuse the lawyers serving as members of the committee of “double-dipping” in the estate because they were paid retainers up front by individual victims and are eligible under their contracts to collect large contingency fees based on what they recover.  Since early this year, Janvey has tapped the committee to take over a number of fraudulent conveyance claims he and his team originally developed, removing the day-to-day expense of litigating those claims.  Janvey told the judge in court filings this past summer that he did so as a cost-saving measure.

Janvey’s recovery efforts in the case continue to move slowly.  To date, of the estimated $7.2 billion lost via Stanford’s alleged scheme, the receiver’s legal team has recovered just over $146 million. (Another $63 million was sitting in Stanford accounts the day Janvey was appointed.)  Much of the total recovery has already been spent on a combination of legal and professional fees ($50 million) and expenses ($50 million).  A majority of the legal fees have gone to one firm, Baker Botts, where Austin-based litigation partner Kevin Sadler is heading up the firm’s efforts.

For more information, visit www.stanfordfinancialreceivership.com