On Thursday, July 2, 2009, plaintiffs filed a class action law suit against Willis Group Holdings Ltd. (WSH), a UK-based insurance broker, and other defendants. The suit is filed on behalf of a putative class of defrauded Mexican depositor clients of Houston based Stanford Financial Group and alleges Texas securities law violations by Willis and the co-defendants in the massive investment fraud scheme perpetrated by Stanford Financial.
According to a press release by plaintiffs’ counsel,
The complaint alleges that Willis, and the co-defendants, provided Stanford Financial with certain “safe and soundness” letters at Stanford’s request. It further alleges that the clear intention of the letters was that they be used for marketing purposes to retain or obtain actual or prospective clients for Stanford Financial.
The suit also alleges the defendants’ direct participation in the fraud crossed the line from the role of insurance brokers, to acting as sales agents for Stanford Financial and its deposit products. These actions convinced depositors located throughout Latin America to invest with the Stanford Financial Group and in turn caused them to be defrauded by the firm, losing assets totaling several billion dollars.
