Gilbert Lopez

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Gilbert T. Lopez Jr. (born 1943) is the former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group. He is best known for his involvement in the Allen Stanford Ponzi Scheme fraud. [1]

History

Lopez was found guilty by a federal jury in Houston on November 19, 2012, of aiding Robert Allen Stanford in a fraud scheme involving Stanford International Bank (SIB). [2] [3]

Evidence at Lopez's trial showed that he knew about and monitored Stanford's misappropriation of SIB's assets, concealed the misappropriation from the public and nearly every other Stanford employee, and worked behind the scenes to keep it from being discovered. Additionally, he assisted Stanford in deceiving SIB clients during the late 2008 financial crisis by claiming that Stanford had invested hundreds of millions of dollars in SIB when in fact he had not. Lopez assisted in the creation of a fraudulent real estate deal that involved inflating the value of land parcels that were bought for $63.5 million to a fictitious $3.2 billion. [4]

Lopez's trial lasted for five weeks. The jury deliberated for about three days before finding Lopez guilty on ten of the eleven counts in the indictment. He was found guilty on nine counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. On one count of wire fraud, Lopez was found not guilty. He was promptly remanded into custody following the trial. [2]

On February 14, 2013 Lopez was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In addition to the prison terms, U.S. District Judge David Hittner, who presided over the trial, sentenced Lopez to serve three years of supervised release and ordered Lopez to pay a $25,000 fine. Judge Hittner also found that Lopez obstructed justice by committing perjury at trial. [4]

The conviction was upheld by the appeals court on June 5, 2015. [5] [6]

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References

  1. ↑ "Criminal Division | United States v. Laura Pendergest-Holt, Gilbert Lopez and Mark Kuhrt | United States Department of Justice". www.justice.gov. 2015-06-09. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  2. 1 2 U.S. Attorney's Office (USAO). "U.S. Attorney's Office - Southern District of Texas". www.justice.gov. Archived from the original on 2021-04-23. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  3. ↑ "Former Executives of Stanford Financial Group Entities Convicted for Roles in Fraud Scheme". FBI. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  4. 1 2 "Office of Public Affairs | Former Executives of Stanford Financial Group Entities Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Roles in Fraud Scheme | United States Department of Justice". www.justice.gov. 2013-02-14. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  5. ↑ "UNITED STATES v. KUHRT (2015)". Findlaw. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  6. ↑ "Reuters - Ex-Stanford execs Kuhrt, Lopez appeal convictions in Allen Stanford fraud". 2015-06-06.
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