Stanford Official Charged With Lying to SEC Testified Without Her Own Lawyer

When the former chief investment officer for Stanford Financial Group testified before the Securities and Exchange Commission, the only defense lawyer who accompanied her represented the company. Today the official, Laura Pendergest-Holt, stands accused of lying during that testimony.

During the hearing, the lawyer, Thomas Sjoblom of Proskauer Rose, emphasized—twice—that he did not represent Pendergest-Holt, the American Lawyer reports. The situation illustrates the perils of testifying without a personal lawyer.

Law professor Peter Henning of Wayne State University told the publication that a company lawyer is not sufficient. "You should always have your own lawyer," said Henning, a former prosecutor for the SEC and the Justice Department. "Always. At some point, the individual's interest and the company's interest are going to diverge."

Ellen Podgor, associate dean of faculty at Stetson University law school, says she would like to know if the company ever advised Pendergest-Holt to get her own lawyer. "Because she'd clearly be better off with her own attorney there—or at least someone to advise her,” she told the American Lawyer.

Sjoblom later withdrew and disavowed everything he had told the SEC about the case.

Pendergest-Holt is now represented by several lawyers, the American Lawyer story says. The Salt Lake City-based firm Parsons Behle & Latimer represents Pendergest-Holt in a civil case filed by the SEC that contends she and other Stanford officials misrepresented the returns on certificates of deposit. The lawyer in the criminal case is Dan Cogdell of Houston.