Allen Stanford convicted of $7 billion fraud in a Ponzi scheme

Cricket tycoon Allen Stanford has been found guilty by a court in Houston, Texas, of running a $7 billion Ponzi scheme.

Allen Stanford, 61, was convicted on 13 of the 14 charges.

He had pleaded not guilty to defrauding some 30,000 investors with bogus investments through his Stanford International Bank in Antigua to fund a lavish lifestyle.

Allen Stanford faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison for the most serious charge.

However, the judge will have to decide whether the sentences should run consecutively.

The jury of eight men and four women found Allen Stanford not guilty of one charge of wire fraud.

Allen Stanford looked down as the guilty verdicts were announced, and one of his daughters started crying.

The same jury will now deliberate in a brief civil trial as prosecutors seek to seize funds from more than 30 of Allen Stanford’s bank accounts worldwide.

However, investigators say they have been unable to find 92% of the $8 billion the bank said it had in assets.

One of Allen Stanford’s lawyers, Ali Fazel, told Associated Press he was “disappointed in the outcome”, adding: “We expect to appeal.”

Allen Stanford’s defense was based on blaming a former chief financial officer, James Davis, and arguing that most of the money was lost by court-appointed receivers following the bank’s seizure.

Prosecutors said Allen Stanford’s bogus certificates of deposit had promised artificially high returns to fund his lavish lifestyle over a 20-year period.

They said Allen Stanford had told depositors in more than 100 countries that their money was safely invested in stocks and securities. However, it was in reality being transferred to his businesses and personal account.

James Davis, who had earlier pleaded guilty to fraud as part of a deal with prosecutors, testified that he had worked with Allen Stanford to falsify records.

Allen Stanford did not take the stand during the six-week trial.

Allen Stanford was the organizer of the money-spinning Stanford Twenty20 cricket tournament in the West Indies in 2008.

Forbes Magazine listed Allen Stanford as the 605th richest man in the world in 2006.

He has spent three years in detention after being denied bail.

Allen Stanford’s trial was delayed after he was involved in a prison fight in September 2009 and developed an addiction to an anti-anxiety drug. But in December 2011 he was declared fit to stand trial.