By Ed Stoddard

"There is a liquidity crisis in this company," Ralph Janvey, the Stanford receiver, told U.S. District Judge David Godbey in Dallas in his first public comments since taking over the Stanford companies in February.

Hundreds of millions of dollars of Stanford assets will likely be recovered for investors instead of billions, Janvey told the court.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Stanford, his two top aides, Chief Financial Officer Jim Davis and Chief Investment Officer Laura Pendergest-Holt, and three of his companies of running a "massive Ponzi Scheme" and misappropriating at least $1.6 billion of investors' money.

In a Ponzi scheme, early investors are paid back with money from later investors.

Pendergest-Holt, 35, was also arrested on a criminal federal obstruction charge last week and at her bail hearing an FBI agent testified that Janvey had so far recovered $90 million in Stanford assets and also found $160 million in a Credit Suisse account.

On February 17, the federal court in Dallas appointed Janvey to take control of Stanford International Bank and Stanford Capital Management, as well as their parent Stanford Group.

The order, which the judge extended until March 12, also freezes assets and forbids the destruction of documents related to the case.

Many investors who have had no access to their funds and say they are not able to pay mortgages or medical bills, have filed motions seeking relief from the court.

Janvey told Judge Godbey that he is seeking to release accounts that contain $100,000 or less later this month.

"I can't pay my mortgage or kid's tuition because everything is on hold including my checking account," said Read Frymire, 48, who runs an air conditioning business in Dallas.

Stanford's CFO Davis asserted his Fifth-Amendment right and declined to cooperate in the SEC's investigation, according to court papers.

The FBI served Stanford with a summons on February 19 in Virginia, but he has yet responded.

(Reporting by Ed Stoddard in Dallas, writing by Anna Driver, editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Leslie Gevirtz)