William Prickett Quoted in The Washington Times
"Ballplayers Can Keep Stanford Scheme Money"

William Prickett was quoted in the November 17, 2009 issue of The Washington Times in the article, "Ballplayers Can Keep Stanford Scheme Money." The article discussed a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in which the court ruled that seven former and current major league baseball players and other investors in R. Allen Stanford’s purported Ponzi scheme can keep the millions of dollars that they put into the scheme. According to the article, the ruling came in response to receiver Ralph Janvey's efforts to seize the money hundreds of people made investing with Stanford and distribute the cash among the thousands of victims of the alleged scam. The article also noted that the federal appeals court ruled that the investors can keep the money that they invested into the scheme because although Stanford's investment business may have been phony, the written agreements between him and his investors related to the accounts were real. As a result, the investors legitimately owned the money in their accounts, both the initial principal and the interest earned, and it could not legally be taken from them.

Will remarked that the appeals court decision was not a surprise. He also added that he doubts the case will have a wide-ranging impact on the handling of other Ponzi-type schemes. He explained that “Ponzi schemes don't tend to have the type of written agreements for ‘certificates of deposits’ seen in the Stanford case.” He further noted, "I think if people apply [the 5th Circuit opinion] based on its facts, it won't have a ton of broader implications."