Charles W. Rawl

Putting Client Interests First, Whatever It Takes

After more than 10 years of experience at New York Life, Merrill Lynch and UBS, Charlie joined the independent, Houston-based Stanford Financial Group in 2005. He chose Stanford because it was independent, focused on the affluent and appeared to have significant financial strength.

He never stopped his due diligence into Stanford, and over time, uncovered numerous “red flags.” Stanford’s “financial strength” he learned was actually fraud, a carefully orchestrated illusion.

Charlie Rawl resigned from Stanford in December 2007 to move his clients to safety. His departure triggered an epic legal battle with Stanford, who fought fiercely against Charlie to prevent him from moving clients and to retaliate for blowing the whistle.

Charlie worked perilously over the next two years to help federal and state authorities shut down the fraudulent enterprise in 2009. He became known as a key “whistleblower” in the $7 billion Stanford fraud debacle.¹ At the time, there were no rules or procedures to guide a whistleblower in the financial industry.

The battle Charlie fought helped inspire the creation of the Office of the Whistleblower in the industry as well as whistleblower protection provisions in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.

Charlie testified before Congress in a hearing titled “The Stanford Ponzi Scheme: Lessons for Protecting Investors from the Next Securities Fraud.”² He has spent countless hours helping the victims of the Stanford fraud while raising awareness of the need for further regulatory reform in his industry.

Charlie has been seen in both local and national media. He was featured on CNBC’s “American Greed,” Episode 67: “Allen Stanford: The Dark Knight,” and on BBC’s “Panorama: The Six Billion Dollar Man.” He also has appeared on his local ABC, CBS and NBC affiliate stations.

¹ Chris Baltimore. Reuters. Feb. 19, 2009. “Stanford whistleblowers had concerns since 2005.” https://www.reuters.com/article/us-stanford-whistleblowers-sb/stanford-whistleblowers-had-concerns-since-2005-idUSTRE51J09L20090220. Accessed Dec. 27, 2019.

² U.S. Government Committee on Financial Services. May 13, 2011. “The Stanford Ponzi Scheme: Lessons for Protecting Investors from the Next Securities Fraud.” https://financialservices.house.gov/uploadedfiles/112-30.pdf. Page 37. Accessed Dec. 27, 2019.