King suspended for links to Stanford

Leroy King has been suspended and will be investigated further for links to disgraced financier Allen Stanford.

King sat at the head of the Financial Services Regulatory Commission in Antigua Barbuda, the commission within which the Directorate of Offshore Gaming operates to oversee all licensed online gambling operators. It is a high profile position when it is considered that online gambling has grown to become one of Antigua's largest exports since licenses were first handed out to operators in 1994.

Since then, the tiny island nation has fought hard to establish the reputation of its regulatory regime, and the legitimacy of its licensee operators. It recently celebrated earning a "White Listing" status with the UK Gambling Commission - a recognition of a sound regulatory and licensing regime.

The fight has also included a high profile action being brought before the WTO against the United States Government on the basis that US anti-online gambling laws are in breach of its international free trade obligations. Antigua won this battle, but the US is yet to honor the ruling made by the WTO. It has however, in case relate investigations, managed to uncover the King/Stanford link.

It was revealed that Leroy King, in his capacity as FSRC head, had been overseeing audits of some of Stanford's Antigua based banks and ignoring significant account irregularities in exchange for bribes paid by Stanford.

Stanford's recent fall from grace has extensively reported. Owner of the Stanford Group of financial companies, the billionaire philanthropist and sports sponsor was charged in early 2009 by the SEC for defrauding involving investors of $8 billion in conduct of a "massive Ponzi scheme". Stanford held both US and Antigua and Barbuda citizenship and was knighted by the small Commonwealth nation in 2008.

Antigua and Barbuda authorities are understandably devastated by the revelations and must now work hard to re-establish its reputation. Attorney General Justin Simon stated “Antigua and Barbuda’s offshore business activities once again placed under intense international scrutiny, and this will clearly have adverse effects on the economy and raise questions about our regulatory legal framework.”

An extensive investigation is being conducted to identify failures in the current framework that allowed the dummy audits to pass unchecked, and a decision as to what further action will be taken against King remains to be made.