Aussie Prick will like this Stanford Claimed ‘War Chest’ to Woo Virgin Islands Tax Break By Ryan J. Donmoyer Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- R. Allen Stanford told U.S. Virgin Islands authorities two years he had “a very large war chest of cash,” a claim that may anger investors who lost access to their money after the Securities and Exchange Commission charged the billionaire with massive fraud. Stanford also told members of the Virgin Islands Economic Development Commission that his 62 companies, in which he was the sole shareholder, managed more than $30 billion and that he was ready to invest about $2 billion in the island of St. Croix and elsewhere in the Caribbean in exchange for the right to reduce his personal U.S. tax bill by 90 percent. “I am a very large target to pay taxes” and this is a driving force” for his proposal to relocate his headquarters from Houston to St. Croix, Stanford told the commission at a public hearing on Nov. 30, 2006, according to a transcript. Nine months earlier, he began fighting the U.S. Internal Revenue Service over an unpaid tax bill that reached more than $104.2 million in August 2008. The testimony may create a new avenue court-appointed receiver Ralph Janvey can explore in his hunt for Stanford Financial Group assets that can be released to Stanford’s alleged victims. Janvey said yesterday some mutual-fund assets should be released from a court-ordered freeze, although he previously said customers generally can’t withdraw cash or close accounts. Experts said Janvey may need a decade to finish repaying victims. ... To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan J. Donmoyer in Washington at rdonmoyer@bloomberg.net Last Updated: February 26, 2009 00:01 EST