Last week Acrimoney posted an article entitled, Part I: The Ponzi Wives Poll. We presented the following case. A woman left her husband ten years ago. She waited until 2007 to sue for divorce. As their battle played out in court, a second front emerged. In 2009 the SEC charged the husband with financial fraud.

We mentioned a few surplus details, like the husband’s “outside wives,” which reminded us of Big Love. The goal was to give characters depth and substance, before we polled answers to one question: Should the woman’s 50 percent community interest be protected?

The votes have reached critical mass. We’re ready to explore the results. But there’s one piece of information we need to disclose. This detail falls into one of our favorite categories at Acrimoney.

You can’t make this stuff up.

We didn’t. Most of the story appeared in Bloomberg News. We located the details about “outside wives” in other sources. The woman in our post is Susan Stanford—wife of Sir Allen Stanford, alleged fraudster and currently under investigation by the SEC.

Is this where Paul Harvey says, “And now you know the rest of the story?”

So far, 57 percent of our voters say, “The money is dirty.” They believe Stanford’s wife is not entitled to anything. Only 17 percent say, “She’s an innocent bystander,” and should keep half. The remaining 26 percent believe, “Spouses should get some kind of safe harbor.”

Here’s the problem we see: The couple separated ten years ago. Susan Stanford waited until 2007 to file for divorce and claim community property.

Hmm. What’s with that?

When couples split, our advice is to clean up the paperwork. Make it official. Had Susan Stanford filed for divorce at the time of separation, there would be no question about her involvement in Allen Stanford’s business affairs. Now, their marital issues will play out both in divorce court and the SEC investigation.

Talk about Acrimoney.