Stanford sentenced to 110 years for $7 b Ponzi scheme

HOUSTON, Texas (AFP): Financier and cricket mogul Allen Stanford was sentenced to 110 years in jail for a $7 billion Ponzi scheme, closing the book on the flamboyant ex-tycoon’s stunning fall from grace.

“This is one of the most egregious frauds ever presented to a trial jury in federal court,” Judge David Hittner said in handing down the lengthy sentence Thursday.

Stanford, 62, has spent the past three years in jail after being deemed a flight risk. He will likely never taste freedom again.

The sentence will bring some satisfaction -- but likely little financial relief -- to some 30,000 investors from more than 100 countries who were bilked by bogus investments with Stanford International Bank.

Investigators could not find 92 percent of the $8 billion the bank said it had in assets and cash reserves.

Prosecutors declined to comment due to a gag order that will remain in effect until other Stanford bank executives face trial. They cited moving testimony, however, in a press release announcing the verdict.

“This was not a bloodless financial crime carried out on paper,” Angie Shaw, director and founder of the Stanford Victims Coalition, said at the sentencing hearing.

“It was and is an inconceivably heinous crime and it has taken a staggering toll on the victims.”

Jaime Escalona, who represents victims from Latin America, told Stanford he “took advantage of the trust that is placed in US companies and caused losses that prevented families from being able to pay for medical and basic living expenses.”

“You are a dirty, rotten scoundrel,” Escalona added.

In a tearful speech, Stanford showed no remorse and blamed the collapse of his empire on the “Gestapo tactics” of overzealous prosecutors and insisted that his investments would have eventually paid dividends, KHOU news reported.

“I’m not a thief,” Stanford, who did not testify at the trial, told the judge.

“I am and will always be at peace with the way I conducted myself.”

Hittner ordered Stanford to serve the bulk of his penalties consecutively rather than concurrently, which means he will die in jail if he is unable to overturn the conviction at appeal or obtain a pardon.

The judge also imposed a $5.9 billion “personal money judgment” ordering Stanford to repay his criminal proceeds, but found it “impractical” to issue a restitution order, prosecutors said.