There’s a lot of speculation and chatter about possible connections between Cur Allen Stanford and the heady world of narcotrafficking this morning, but away from pure jawboning there is a solid and verifiable link between Stanford and the world of drugs.
However, it’s…err…ahem…on the other side of the ….errr…coin. A guy called Tom Raffanello is (or perhaps was) head of the Stanford Financial Group security department. The thing is that once upon a time……errrr…..how can I put this?…hmmmmm….he was head of the Miami DEA! Yep, true, here’s a link to Google returns that show our friend Tom was a DEA guy way back then.
Now, of course, we all know that the Miami DEA fight drugs to man and never take bribes and don’t have the slightest suspicion of wrongdoing in their illustrious and squeaky-clean history.
All the same, quite a coincidence, n’est pas?
Bad pennies are as bad pennies does. Last week Raffanello was indicted by the US good-guy-bad-guy people. Here’s Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A security director for the shuttered Stanford Financial Group, and a deputy, were indicted for their alleged role in obstructing the probe of group’s alleged $7 billion fraud, court documents unsealed on Thursday showed.
Thomas Raffanello, a former security director at the group’s office at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was charged with three counts.
And here’s Reuters again
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Sept 11 (Reuters) - The security chief accused of illegally shredding documents at Stanford Financial Group was simply "taking out the garbage" and committed no crime, his lawyer said in a court filing.
Thomas Raffanello, 61, who before joining Stanford was chief of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Miami office, was taken into a Fort Lauderdale federal courtroom in shackles on Friday to face charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and destroying records.
Raffanello served as the global security chief for Stanford Financial Group (SFG), the Texas-based banking company accused in an alleged $7 billion Ponzi scheme that bilked investors who bought certificates of deposit from Stanford's Caribbean bank.
Raffanello, of Coral Gables, Florida, and a deputy, Bruce Perraud, 42, of Weston, Florida, are accused of shredding documents at SFG's Fort Lauderdale offices after the court-appointed receiver for Stanford ordered company employees not to destroy any documents.
U.S. Magistrate Robin Rosenbaum granted Raffanello $100,000 bond at his brief hearing on Friday. Raffanello was set to be arraigned on Sept. 18
Just sayin’