Allen Stanford Ponzi Scheme

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R. Allen Stanford must forfeit $330 million in 29 bank accounts held outside the United States

March 08, 2012
http://texaslawyer.typepad.com/texas_lawyer_blog/2012/03/r-allen-stanford-must-forfeit-330-million-in-29-bank-accounts-held-outside-the-united-states.html

Two days after finding R. Allen Stanford, former chairman of Stanford Financial Group of Houston, guilty of 13 of 14 criminal counts against him, a federal court jury in Houston today agreed that he should forfeit $330 million in 29 bank accounts held outside the United States.

The jury in Senior U.S. District Judge David Hittner’s court delivered the verdict on the civil forfeiture issues shortly after 1:30 p.m. today.

Stanford’s 14 criminal charges stemmed from an alleged conspiracy to defraud investors who bought about $7 billion in certificates of deposit sold through Stanford International Bank.

On March 6, the jury of four women and eight men found Stanford guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, four counts of wire fraud, five counts of mail fraud, one count of conspiracy to obstruct an SEC proceeding, one count of obstruction of an SEC proceeding, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Jurors in United States v. Stanford found Stanford not guilty of one count of wire fraud. Stanford remains in custody; his sentencing hearing is set for June 14 and he faces up to 230 years in prison.

Prosecutor Gregg Costa, an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Texas, declined comment on the forfeiture verdict.

Stanford defense lawyer Ali Fazel said, “I don’t think we can have a reaction one way or the other -- the gag order.”

But Fazel and co-counsel Robert Scardino, partners in Scardino & Fazel in Houston, did express disappointment. “We did the best we could with what we had,” Scardino said.

-- Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

http://texaslawyer.typepad.com/texas_lawyer_blog/2012/03/r-allen-stanford-must-forfeit-330-million-in-29-bank-accounts-held-outside-the-united-states.html