No Section

Texas tycoon Stanford gets 110 years for $7B Ponzi scheme

The one-time billionaire remained defiant, saying: "I didn't defraud anybody."

The Associated Press

June 15, 2012 at 5:32AM

HOUSTON - Former jet-setting Texas tycoon R. Allen Stanford had plenty of things to say Thursday before a federal judge sentenced him to 110 years in prison for bilking investors out of more than $7 billion over two decades.

An apology was not one of them. In a defiant, rambling statement that lasted more than 40 minutes, Stanford told the court about the injuries he suffered during a prison fight; criticized the government for its "gestapo tactics" when his companies were put in receivership and their assets sold off to pay back investors; described his financial empire as a victim of the 2008 credit collapse; and recalled riding horses with former President George W. Bush.

"I am and will always be at peace with the way I conducted myself in business," he said.

Prosecutors sought 230 years

Prosecutors said Stanford, 62, used the money from investors who bought certificates of deposit, or CDs, from his bank on the Caribbean island nation of Antigua to fund a string of failed businesses, bribe regulators and pay for a lavish lifestyle that included yachts, a fleet of private jets and sponsorship of cricket tournaments. The one-time billionaire was convicted in March on 13 of 14 fraud-related counts in one of the largest Ponzi schemes in U.S. history.

Prosecutors had asked that Stanford be sentenced to 230 years in prison, the maximum sentence possible, on conspiracy, wire and mail fraud charges. Stanford's attorneys had asked for a maximum of 41 months, a sentence he could have completed within about five months because he has been jailed since his arrest in June 2009.

Stanford remained defiant, insisting his business empire was legitimate and he "worked tirelessly and honestly."

"I did not run a Ponzi scheme. I didn't defraud anybody," he said.

Prosecutor William Stellmach chastised Stanford for his lack of remorse for defrauding thousands of people of their life savings and preventing them from being able to send their kids to college or to get needed medical treatment. "To the bitter end, he was a con man and a coward," Stellmach said.

'A dirty rotten scoundrel'

U.S. District Judge David Hittner allowed two people to speak on behalf of the victims during the sentencing hearing.

Angela Shaw, a Dallas-area woman who founded the Stanford Victims Coalition after three generations of her family lost $4.5 million in the fraud, said the financier's "heinous crime" has taken a "staggering toll on victims around the world."

At the end of his statement, Jaime Escalona, a Venezuelan who lost $1.5 million and founded the Coalition of Latin American Stanford Victims, told Stanford: "You deserve what's coming to you. You are a dirty rotten scoundrel."

Stanford was once considered one of the richest men in the United States, with an estimated net worth of more than $2 billion. His financial empire stretched from the U.S. to Latin America and the Caribbean. But after his arrest, all of his assets were seized and he had to rely on court-appointed attorneys to defend him.

Defense attorneys portrayed Stanford as a visionary entrepreneur who made money for investors and conducted legitimate business deals. Prosecutors had wanted Stanford to get a longer prison sentence than the 150-year term of Bernard Madoff, insisting Stanford's crimes were worse because he kept most of the fraudulent proceeds for himself.

The jury that convicted Stanford also cleared the way for U.S. authorities to go after about $330 million in stolen investor funds sitting in the financier's frozen foreign bank accounts. But it could be years before the more than 21,000 investors recover anything.