Receiver in Stanford case defends $27M fee request

DALLAS — The lawyer appointed to unravel what the government calls a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme run by Texas businessman R. Allen Stanford is firing back at critics.

Ralph Janvey’s critics have alleged that the court-appointed receiver’s request for $27 million in attorney’s fees is excessive.

Janvey has now escalated the unusual public battle over the fees with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In court papers filed Tuesday evening in federal court in Dallas, his attorneys argue that the fees are necessary because the Stanford case is far-flung and complex, “yet those who oppose payment to the receiver claim to be shocked that a big cleanup produces a big bill.”

The SEC, Stanford, officials in the Caribbean island nation of Antigua and the court-appointed examiner who represents jilted investors oppose Janvey’s bill.