Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Laura Pendergest-Holt, the chief investment officer of Stanford Financial Group, was arrested by the FBI and charged with obstructing an investigation into an alleged $8 billion financial fraud, according to the Justice Department.

Pendergest-Holt, 35, was arrested today at Stanford’s Houston headquarters, the FBI said, and is scheduled to appear tomorrow before a U.S. magistrate judge, according to a department statement.

The Securities and Exchange Commission sued Pendergest- Holt, Stanford Chairman R. Allen Stanford, and Stanford Chief Financial Officer James M. Davis on Feb. 17, accusing them of misleading investors about $8 billion in certificates of deposit in Antigua-based Stanford International Bank. The FBI is investigating, along with the Internal Revenue Service and Postal Inspection Service.

A criminal complaint charging Pendergest-Holt alleges that she made misrepresentations to the SEC to obstruct its investigation, according to the Justice Department. The complaint is based on a finding of probable cause by a magistrate judge, and Pendergest-Holt has not been indicted by a grand jury, according to the statement.

“She is extremely disappointed in the path the SEC and law enforcement are taking,” said Pendergest-Holt’s lawyer Dan Cogdell. “She has been cooperating for weeks, and now she is falsely charged for a crime she didn’t commit.”

Meeting with SEC

The charge relates to a Feb. 10 meeting between Pendergest- Holt and representatives of the SEC at the commission’s Fort Worth, Texas regional office, according to the Justice Department. She was subpoenaed to discuss the allegations that Stanford Financial Group and related companies, including Stanford International Bank, defrauded investors.

Pendergest-Holt made “several” misrepresentations under oath to the SEC during her testimony, including failure to reveal that she participated in a Miami session with Stanford corporate officers to prepare for the meeting with the SEC, according to the statement.

Pendergest-Holt met with Stanford executives in Miami during the week of Feb. 2 to prepare for her testimony before the SEC staff, the statement said. She allegedly discussed with the officers the international bank’s “Tier III” portfolio using a computer generated pie chart she created.

In the Feb. 10 meeting with the SEC, Pendergest-Holt failed to reveal to investigators “the extent of her knowledge” of the Tier III portfolio, according to the statement.

Three Tiers

The Antigua bank managed its portfolio in three tiers, the SEC said in its civil lawsuit last week. The first included cash and like-cash instruments.

She denied that she was a member of the international bank’s investment committee, even though she was, and didn’t explain the extent of her knowledge about the Tier III portfolio, according to the Justice Department.

The complaint alleged a $1.6 billion loan to a shareholder from the Tier III portfolio, according to the statement. Stanford, in legal documents filed in the U.S. Virgin Islands two years ago described himself as the sole shareholder of his group of companies.

“At no point did Pendergest-Holt reveal that the $1.6 billion loan had been discussed with corporate officers in Miami,” according to the statement.

Pendergest-Holt was again interviewed by the SEC on Feb. 17 in Memphis, Tennessee, and continued to obstruct the investigation by saying she didn’t know about the Tier III portfolio, according to the statement.

Mississippi Native

Pendergest-Holt is a native of Baldwyn, Mississippi, a town of about 3,300 people near Elvis Presley’s hometown of Tupelo. Pendergest-Holt met Davis, the financial chief, in church, her husband, Jim Holt, said in a Feb. 20 interview.

Holt said his wife oversaw “investable assets” of the company, and that she didn’t manage the company’s Tier III portfolio. Her sister Amy is married to Ken Weeden, Stanford Financial Group’s managing director of investments and research.

To contact the reporters on this story: Justin Blum in Washington at jblum4@bloomberg.netAlison Fitzgerald in Washington at Afitzgerald2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 26, 2009 22:33 EST