Laura Pendergest-Holt of Stanford Group was arrested by the FBI

According to the Reuters’ report, on Thursday the FBI arrested chief investment officer Laura Pendergest-Holt in the $8 billion Stanford Financial Group fraud investigation.

The federal criminal inquire started in June 2008. The U.S. Justice Department announced that Pendergest-Holt was to make an initial court appearance before a U.S. magistrate in Houston on Friday after her arrest by FBI agents. It also said that when Securities and Exchange Commission investigators questioned Pendergest-Holt earlier in February she hid her role in and familiarity with the Antigua bank's investments.

 She failed to tell investigators she had served on the Antigua bank's investment committee and that the investment portfolio holding more than 80% of its assets included a $1.6 billion loan to Stanford "Executive A" -- evidently Stanford himself. Pendergest-Holt also denied she had prepared with company officials before her SEC interview on February, 10 and said a Stanford attorney had sought to keep the top executives from being questioned.

Stanford is claimed to oversee about $50 billion in assets but the criminal complaint cited a company lawyer as saying the SEC told him it was only interested in the certificates of deposit. Pendergest-Holt's attorney, Brent Baker, said after the arrest that "she is looking forward to having the truth come out and to putting this whole affair behind her as soon as possible."