Stanford fraud trial gets to a rip(off)-roaring start
HOUSTON — Disgraced financier R. Allen Stanford shattered "children's college educations" and "loved ones' comfortable retirements" through a sham business empire that served as his personal piggy bank, prosecutors said.
Assistant US Attorney Gregg Costa told a federal jury in Houston that Stanford, who faces up to 20 years in prison, siphoned off cash through his dealings in an offshore bank where he sold certificates of deposit as safe investments, but then failed to put those investments into the hands of money managers.
"It was just a façade," said Costa of Stanford International Bank, adding that the institution only served to underwrite Stanford's ambitions.
Stanford, 61, is charged in a 14-count federal indictment accusing him of bilking some 30,000 investors from more than 100 countries through bogus investments with Antigua-based Stanford International Bank.
Wearing a white shirt with no tie with a light-gray suit that now matches his once-red hair, Stanford told the jury, "I plead not guilty to every count."
Defense attorney Robert Scardino told jurors that the case against Stanford is not as simple as the prosecution would have them believe.
For instance, prosecutors said Stanford fraudulently inflated the value of property he hoped to turn into a Caribbean resort by 5,000 percent. But Scardino countered by saying that "it was not just a pipe dream. Millions of dollars had been spent to make it a reality," and that the property had been in development for over a year.
Scardino also implied that Stanford might have been the victim of wrongdoing by others in his company.
"He had to rely on information from others," said Scardino. "He was not an information and technology guy. He only used his computer to send and receive e-mails."
Testimony in the trial begins today.
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