The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and some Congressmen are seeking to expand the mission of the Securities Investors Protection Corporation (SIPC) to cover investors’ losses in the $7 billion Ponzi scheme operated by convicted felon R. Allen Stanford. The SIPC says it was created by Congress to restore funds to investors with assets in the hands of bankrupt and otherwise financially troubled brokerage firms. But Stanford’s victims supposedly invested in certificates of deposit sponsored by an offshore bank (not a securities broker-dealer), and the SIPC says that it is not authorized to restore their funds. The SEC disputes this contention and is suing the SIPC. (“Advisers could be tapped as Congress seeks to expand Ponzi victim payouts,” InvestmentNews).