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Federal Appeals Court Reverses Itself on The Golf Channel Ponzi Ruling

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed its own ruling that could have forced The Golf Channel to pay back more than $5.9 million in stolen money it received for its advertising. After deciding earlier this year that TGC…

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failed to show it provided Stanford International Bank with ad services worth the money it received, TGC requested that the issue of interpreting the value of something given to a good faith transferee in the Ponzi scheme go to the Texas Supreme Court. Ralph Janvey, the court-appointed receiver of Stanford International Bank, sued TGC in 2011, trying to claw back the money given it by Stanford -- which was the focal point of what the 5th Circuit called an "undisputed ... multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme." While it operated, Stanford was the title sponsor of a PGA Tour event held yearly in Memphis, and subsequently bought ads on TGC. A federal judge in Dallas in 2013 tossed out Janvey's lawsuit on summary judgment -- a decision the 5th Circuit initially overturned in March. Tuesday, it vacated that decision and asked for clarification from the Texas Supreme Court regarding the Texas Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act.