New Delhi: Former cricketer and financier Allen Stanford was convicted on Tuesday for the biggest investment fraud ever. A whopping sum of $7 billion fraud investment landed Allen Stanford in the Texas court where he was declared found guilty on 13 counts of a 14-count criminal indictment. Having spend 3 years in jail followed by ill health and unfit for trial, Stranford has earlier tried to have his case completely dismissed after claiming that the beating and drugs destroyed his memory.The judge dismissed his plea. The charges carry a possible prison of 20 years.
A jury found Stanford, 61, guilty on 13 of 14 criminal charges, including fraud, conspiracy, and obstructing an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Jurors acquitted Stanford on a single wire-fraud charge.
"For all the investors, I think there is a sense of relief that they weren't just fools," one of Stanford's victims told Reuters. "We were just conned."
R Allen Stanford was arrested in 2009 and accused of running a $7 billion Ponzi scheme that defrauded nearly 30,000 investors in more than 100 countries, The New York Times reports.
Stanford's conviction involved use of a bank - the Stanford International Bank, which he set up on the Caribbean island of Antigua. Stanford put investors' money into the bank, then used the bank as his "personal ATM," prosecutors said.
The money bankrolled Stanford's lavish lifestyle. He spent millions on pricey real estate for family and friends, and bought expensive clothes, luxury homes, and a yacht for himself.
At one point, Stanford's personal fortune was valued at $2.2 billion. Most of Stanford's victims, however, never got anything in return for their investments.
R Allen Stanford's conviction could result in a 20-year prison sentence for the most serious charges, but he could be in prison much longer, if a judge orders his sentences to be served consecutively. One of Stanford's lawyers says his client plans to appeal.
(With additional inputs from Reuters)
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