V.P. Biden’s Family Marketed Funds Linked to Fallen Billionaire Stanford

Vice President Joe Biden’s son and brother marketed a collection of hedge funds controlled in part by Allen Stanford, the Texas investment tycoon who stands accused of orchestrating an $8 billion investment fraud, according to a new report in the Wall Street Journal.

The $50 million Paradigm Stanford Capital Management Core Alternative Fund was packaged between a Stanford Financial Group entity and Paradigm Global Advisors LLC, which is owned through a holding company by the vice president’s son, Hunter Biden, and brother, James Biden.

A Joint Partnership

Stanford-controlled companies sold the fund to investors and contributed about $2.7 million toward the jointly managed fund, officials said. It was not clear which Stanford entity was participating in the fund, according to a lawyer for the Bidens.

Stanford International Bank, an Antigua-based financial institution, is at the center of a multi-billion-dollar investigation into the alleged illegal sales of certificates of deposit, which promised investors unrealistic financial returns based on fraudulent performance data, according to prosecutors.

Fraud Charges Filed

Stanford and two of his top advisors were charged in February 2009 for the fraud, which involved tens of thousands of investors around the world. Some big names have already surfaced on the list of Stanford clients, after New York Yankees outfielders Johnny Damon and Xavier Nady said their bank accounts including some Stanford holdings had been temporarily frozen as part of the investigation into the banker’s dealings.

Marc LoPresti, the attorney for Hunter and James Biden as well as Paradigm, said the Bidens never communicated or met with Stanford about the fund or other business dealings. Paradigm has offered to return the $2.7 million contributed by Stanford holdings as part of the continuing federal probe into the disgraced financier’s empire.

Neither Joe Biden’s office nor the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had comment on the link between the funds.

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