Remember Kroll? That private consultancy that city of San Diego taxpayers paid $20.3 million for this investigative report?
The firm is back in the news right now with the downfall of alleged Ponzi-schemer Allan Stanford and being accused of the same thing critics claimed here in San Diego — that they were hired to keep their clients out of law enforcement’s reach.
Here’s a tidbit from an online summary of an in-depth Vanity Fair article this month showing how Stanford was able to steer clear of trouble for so long:
Stanford’s Aggressive Defense
Stanford curried favor with politicians — both Antiguan and American — and hired a top security firm, Kroll, to fight back against anyone who questioned his integrity. “Stanford was spending millions of dollars a year trying to figure out who was looking at him, and aggressively combating whoever it was,” says the former F.B.I. agent Burrough spoke with. “Kroll was essentially running a propaganda campaign in defense of Stanford’s good name. They beat on me many times: ‘Hey, you got this guy all wrong, he’s not a money launderer, he’s a great guy, leave him alone.’