James Davis of Stanford Group rejects helping SEC investigation

James Davis, a Chief Financial Officer at Stanford Financial Group, accused along with the company's founder Allen Stanford of carrying out a $8 billion Ponzi scheme, declined to cooperate with the investigation of the authorities. Davis cited his Fifth-Amendment right, refusing "to testify or provide an accounting ... or produce any documents related to the matters set forth in the Commission's complaint," as reported in a filing with a federal court in Dallas on Friday.

Davis was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission along with Allen Stanford with arranging a Ponzi investment scheme under which early investors were paid with the money of the new customers.

The filings with the court advise that both Davis and Stanford while not charged with criminal wrongdoing face allegations of misappropriating "billions of dollars of investor funds" and falsifying financial statements issued by Antigua-based Stanford International Bank.

Meantime Laura Pendergest-Holt, the company’s Chief Investment Officer, who was arrested last week, was released on bail of $300,000.