Ponzi schemer’s 110-year sentence upheld

Allen Stanford
Allen Stanford

HOUSTON, Texas – A U.S. federal appellate court here has upheld the 110-year jail term imposed on disgraced financier and former Caribbean playboy Allen Stanford.
The American fraudster was convicted in 2012 for masterminding a Ponzi scheme involving his Stanford International Bank (SIB) in Antigua.
Sir Allen Stanford, as he was known then, who created and funded the Stanford 20/20 cricket tournament in the West Indies for which he built his own ground in Antigua, was accused of fleecing about 25,000 investors worldwide and lived an extravagant jet-setting lifestyle in which he enjoyed power and privilege.
Investors were assured their money was safely held in certificates of deposit (CDs) at SIB in Antigua but law enforcement authorities maintained that the money was used to satisfy Stanford’s lavish tastes.
Following a jury trial, Robert Allen Stanford was convicted of a raft of charges, including several counts of wire fraud and mail fraud; conspiracy to obstruct a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation; obstruction of an SEC investigation; and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
After serving three of his 110 years behind bars, Stanford filed his appeal on his own behalf, without an attorney.
Stanford who maintained at his sentencing that he neither ran a Ponzi scheme nor defrauded anyone complained in his appeal about the use of the term “Ponzi scheme” at his trial.
The judges said evidence presented at the seven-week trial was sufficient to convict Stanford, adding the sentence was appropriate.