McCain campaign forwards Stanford’s contribution to charity

Senator John McCain on Friday announced that he is going to donate all contributions he received from Robert Allen Stanford for his 2008 presidential campaign to charity. Stanford, the Texas financier, is accused of an $8 billion fraud.

 Stanford and his wife, Susan, contributed $931,100 out of their own pockets to various candidates through their own political action committee. Stanford Financial Group provided $2.4 million funds to federal candidates and parties since 2000. 78% of the private funds and 65% of the company’s funds were contributed to democrats.

 Apart from McCain, Stanford has donated many other lawmakers including President Barack Obama and Sens. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., of New York, and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. Obama has collected $4,600 from Stanford and $31,750 from the company's employees during the 2008 presidential campaign.

 Stanford's Antigua-based bank, Stanford International Bank, sold about $8 billion of certificates of deposit to investors with a promise of unusually high interest rates. Federal prosecutors are responsible for detecting whether Stanford was conducting a Ponzi scheme.

 Source: MarketWatch