Friday June 19, 10:17 AM
Stanford to appear in court on fraud charges
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Texan billionaire financier Allen Stanford, accused of masterminding a eight-billion-dollar scam, is in FBI custody and will appear in federal court Friday on fraud charges, US media said.
Prosecutors and federal agents investigating the businessman's Stanford Financial Group obtained Thursday an indictment from a Houston, Texas grand jury, said the Houston Chronicle newspaper.
Stanford, who in April said he would "die and go to hell" if he ran the Ponzi scheme that authorities allege he did, turned himself over to authorities in the US state of Virginia, his attorney Dick DeGuerin told CNN.
Federal agents raided Stanford Financial Group's Houston headquarters in February and froze company assets, along with the wealthy cricket mogul's personal accounts.
In its complaint, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged the Stanford Financial Group operated "a massive Ponzi scheme" by paying investors returns on certificates of deposit using money from other investors rather than from gains on investments.
A tearful Stanford, 59, lashed out in his first interview after being accused at how he was robbed of his Forbes magazine title of 405th wealthiest person in the world.
"Baloney. Baloney... It's not a Ponzi scheme. If it was a Ponzi scheme, why are they finding billions and billions of dollars all over the place?" he said.
The wait on formal charges -- now four months after the first allegations -- miffed Stanford so much he even tried turning himself in May to federal marshals in a publicity stunt.
Legal experts say the delay was likely due to behind-the-scenes machinations to get his lieutenants to trade information for amnesty.
The criminal indictment against him also includes fresh fraud charges against Stanford's chief investment officer Laura Pendergest-Holt, said the Wall Street Journal.
Pendergest-Holt, the first Stanford executive to face criminal charges, was indicted on May 12 on two counts of obstruction of justice.
Stanford's case is the most high-profile alleged fraud scheme since the SEC charged Wall Street financier Bernard Madoff with carrying out a 50-billion-dollar Ponzi, or pyramid-selling, scheme in December. At his June 29 sentencing Madoff could face a 150-year prison sentence.
When the allegations against Stanford surfaced, investors swarmed his closed offices and affiliated banks across the United States, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean to regain lost investments.
Several governments seized Stanford banks and froze their assets with concern the global reach of the billionaire's banking operations could complicate the return of an estimated 50 billion dollars in assets belonging to an estimated 50,000 clients in 140 countries.
Born in dusty, rural Mexia, Texas, Stanford now has the clipped mustache and Saville Row style of English aristocracy.
Stanford, who was behind the high-profile Stanford Super Series Twenty20 cricket competition received a knighthood in 2006 from the governor-general of Antigua, where his company was the second-largest employer.
|
|
|
Send Article by Email
Send Article by IM
Blog This with Y! 360
Printable View
