Texas tycoon R. Allen Stanford convicted of $7 billion Ponzi fraud

By: Crimesider Staff
Topics: Daily Blotter

Billionaire R. Allen Stanford, escorted into the federal courthouse on Thursday, June 25, 2009, in Houston.

/ AP Photo/David J. Phillip

(CBS/AP) HOUSTON - Texas tycoon R. Allen Stanford, whose financial empire once spanned the Americas, was convicted Tuesday on all but one of the 14 counts he faced for allegedly bilking investors out of more than $7 billion in massive Ponzi schemes he operated for 20 years.

Jurors reached their verdicts against Stanford during their fourth day of deliberations, finding him guilty on all charges except a single count of wire fraud.

Stanford, who was once considered one of the wealthiest people in the U.S. with a net worth of more than $2 billion, looked down when the verdict was read. His mother and daughters, who were in the federal courtroom in Houston, hugged one another, and one of the daughters started crying.

Prosecutors called Stanford a con artist who lined his pockets with investors' money to fund a string of failed businesses, pay for a lavish lifestyle that included yachts and private jets, and bribe regulators to help him hide his scheme. Stanford's court-appointed attorneys told jurors the financier was a visionary entrepreneur who made money for investors and conducted legitimate business deals.

Stanford, 61, who's been jailed since his indictment in 2009, will remain incarcerated until he is sentenced. He faces up to 20 years for the most serious charges against him, but the once high-flying businessman could spend longer than that behind bars if U.S. District Judge David Hittner orders the sentences to be served consecutively instead of concurrently.

During the more than six-week trial, prosecutors methodically presented evidence, including testimony from ex-employees as well as emails and financial statements, they said showed Stanford orchestrated a 20-year scheme that bilked billions from investors

through the sale of certificates of deposit, or CDs, from his bank on the Caribbean island nation of Antigua.

They said Stanford, whose financial empire was headquartered in Houston, lied to depositors from more than 100 countries by telling them their funds were being safely invested in stocks, bonds and other securities instead of being funneled into his businesses and personal accounts.

With Stanford's conviction, a shorter, civil trial will be held with the same jury on prosecutors' efforts to seize funds from more than 30 bank accounts held by the financier or his companies around the world, including in Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Canada. The civil trial could take as little as a day.

Complete coverage of the R. Allen Stanford case on Crimesider

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