Friday June 26, 04:43 AM
Texas cricket mogul pleads not guilty to fraud
By Kate Murphy
HOUSTON, Texas (AFP) - Texan cricket mogul and billionaire financier Allen Stanford pleaded not guilty to 21 charges of multi-billion dollar fraud, money-laundering and obstruction.
Stanford appeared in a Houston court along with three of his four co-accused charged with running a decade-long investment scam allegedly out of the offices of the Stanford International Bank on the Caribbean island of Antigua.
Asked how he pled, Stanford, handcuffed and dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, said forcefully: "Not guilty." He could face up to 250 years if convicted on all charges.
Stanford, 59, had become a larger than life figure in Antigua, where his company was the largest employer and where he was even knighted in 2006 by the Caribbean island nation's governor-general.
Thursday's court appearance as he waited for his case to be heard was a humiliating climbdown for the flamboyant Texan, who sports the clipped mustache and Saville Row style of English aristocracy.
In a 57-page indictment, the US Department of Justice alleged the scam began in September 1999 and continued until about February 17 this year, attracting some 30,000 investors from across the world.
Certified fraud examiner Jeffrey Ferguson, working for the court-appointed receivers, told the court that as of February, Stanford's company owed clients some 5.4 billion dollars.
There was also another 1.18 billion missing that could not be accounted for, Ferguson said.
Stanford was charged along with his chief investment officer Laura Pendergest-Holt, accountants Mark Kuhrt and Gilberto Lopez and former Antigua financial regulatory agency chief Leroy King.
King was not in court, but Judge Frances Stacy was told that he had been arrested in Antigua on Wednesday and extradition proceedings had begun. The other three pleaded not guilty and were freed on bail.
After a lengthy day-long hearing the judge agreed to also grant Stanford bail providing he put up 500,000 dollars, but the government immediately said it would file an appeal on Friday, meaning Stanford was spending another night in jail.
Fijian golfer Vijay Singh had offered to sign the bail bond, but was ruled ineligible because he is not a US national.
Stanford came to cricket prominence when he announced he was putting 28 million dollars into funding a Caribbean wide Twenty20 tournament in 2005.
He then went on to unveil in 2008 a 20-million dollar-winner takes all Twenty20 match between his Caribbean Superstars and England, which shocked and appalled many in the traditional cricket establishment.
Prosecutor Paul Pelletier argued against giving Stanford bail, alleging he had access to secret Swiss bank accounts and saying he was a flight risk, as he had failed to turn in his Antiguan passport.
The accusations agitated Stanford, and his lawyer Dick DeGuerin hit back that the prosecution's claims were "designed to prejudice potential jurors."
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