Cricket tycoon Stanford goes on trial
Faces accusations of fraud involving investors from over 100 countries.
HOUSTON:
Former cricket mogul Allen Stanford, who hit international sports headlines by creating the Stanford Super Series Twenty20 cricket competition in 2005, faced accusations of stealing the savings of customers of his offshore bank, on the first day of his trial in the US.
Stanford had appalled many in the cricketing world when he announced a $20-million winner-take-all match between England and West Indies, which many felt challenged the sacrosanct traditional cricket establishment. In Antigua, he was a larger-than-life figure, the island’s largest employer and the recipient of a 2006 knighthood.
But after the allegations against him surfaced, much of his support dwindled and the England and Wales Cricket Board cut ties with him.
The trial that began in the US yesterday saw prosecutors accuse Stanford of building a $7 billion Ponzi scheme on lies that defrauded his customers.
“He told them lie, after lie, after lie,” prosecutor Gregg Costa told the jury at the start of Stanford’s trial on criminal fraud charges. “You’ve heard of compound interest. This was the power of compound fraud.”
Stanford, 61, has pleaded not guilty to bilking 30,000 investors from over 100 countries through bogus investments with Stanford International Bank. The ex-tycoon spent the past three years in jail after being deemed a flight risk shortly after his 2009 arrest.
Badly beaten in a jailhouse brawl, the Texan was found temporarily unfit for trial after he became addicted to painkillers and tried to have his case completely dismissed after claiming that the beating and drugs destroyed his memory.
Stanford is expected to testify in a case watched closely by those who still do not know if they will get any of their money back.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 26th, 2012.
Former cricket mogul Allen Stanford, who hit international sports headlines by creating the Stanford Super Series Twenty20 cricket competition in 2005, faced accusations of stealing the savings of customers of his offshore bank, on the first day of his trial in the US.
Stanford had appalled many in the cricketing world when he announced a $20-million winner-take-all match between England and West Indies, which many felt challenged the sacrosanct traditional cricket establishment. In Antigua, he was a larger-than-life figure, the island’s largest employer and the recipient of a 2006 knighthood.
But after the allegations against him surfaced, much of his support dwindled and the England and Wales Cricket Board cut ties with him.
The trial that began in the US yesterday saw prosecutors accuse Stanford of building a $7 billion Ponzi scheme on lies that defrauded his customers.
“He told them lie, after lie, after lie,” prosecutor Gregg Costa told the jury at the start of Stanford’s trial on criminal fraud charges. “You’ve heard of compound interest. This was the power of compound fraud.”
Stanford, 61, has pleaded not guilty to bilking 30,000 investors from over 100 countries through bogus investments with Stanford International Bank. The ex-tycoon spent the past three years in jail after being deemed a flight risk shortly after his 2009 arrest.
Badly beaten in a jailhouse brawl, the Texan was found temporarily unfit for trial after he became addicted to painkillers and tried to have his case completely dismissed after claiming that the beating and drugs destroyed his memory.
Stanford is expected to testify in a case watched closely by those who still do not know if they will get any of their money back.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 26th, 2012.