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Report: Stanford Tried To Get On Flight To Antigua
CNBC reports that, according to a source, Allen Stanford, who was charged yesterday with perpetrating an $8 billion fraud, tried unsuccessfully to get a one-way flight out of the U.S. to Antigua.
Says the business channel:
R. Allen Stanford tried to arrange the direct flight to Antigua, here his offshore banking operations are based. He contacted a private jet owner and attempted to pay for the flight with a credit card, but was refused because the company would only accept a wire transfer, a source in the private jet industry said.
The suggestion that Stanford may still be on U.S. soil could be encouraging for those hoping to see the flamboyant cricket-loving billionaire brought to justice. There has been speculation in the last 24 hours that he may already have scarpered to Latin America or elsewhere.
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Josh
Zachary
"Scarpered" -- excellent w.c.
February 18, 2009 11:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think the FBI needs to detain John Cornyn and ask about Stanford's whereabouts. And if Big Jawn won't talk, use techniques to get him to reveal who his "unindentified companion" was.
Surely Mr/Ms Unidentified Companion will know the location of this financial terrorist.
February 18, 2009 2:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is he in Pakistan with UBL?
Don't terrorists and high-dollar con-artists all use the same lawyers, lobbyists, and other reputable facilitators of disreputable activity?
Do the warrantless wiretaps work better than the regular ones? Maybe, the SEC should get in touch with that Google-geography guy at UCLA.
One interesting aspect of what Jim Fallows and Bruce Schneier call "security theater" is that the US+UK Goverment or Public/Private Partnership or ... whatever other two-trillion dollar clown-car outfit we have now constitution-wise can harass loyal law-abiders but does not actually track politically connected perps or hot money.
It cannot find its own ass with both hands.
February 18, 2009 11:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
I like the way you guys consistently put 'Sir' in quotation marks.
February 18, 2009 12:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
I love that...'scarpered,' not a word we Yanks use much, but it underlines Mr Stanford's strange anglophilia.
February 18, 2009 12:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
How smart do you have to be to try to get a one-way ticket out of the country? That is just a 'WTF?' moment.
Next, he'll be opening Fibber McGee's closet to get his coat.
Thanks.
mp
February 18, 2009 12:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
One way tickets? That's what the terrists bought!
February 18, 2009 12:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
are you freaking kidding me? A credit card? How about paying freaking cash you dumb-ass...
February 18, 2009 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
He couldn't show his face!
February 18, 2009 12:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm sure the right amount of cash would have got him to where he wanted to be :)
February 18, 2009 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
love this article for two reasons, first (as others have covered) "scampered", second reason would be the phrase "flamboyant cricket-loving billionaire" just has a certain ring to it, doesn't it?
February 18, 2009 12:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Because of his close ties with repugs, he didn't see the possibility of himself being arrested so he never had an escape plan worked out. Sounds strange he didn't have a stash of cash hidden somewhere to fall back to in the event he was discovered. Cash is easy to use and hard to trace and he could have bought he way out of just about any situation not involving police - civil authorities are easy to bribe especially at borders in countries where the US government isn't appreciated.
February 18, 2009 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Are you sure the testimonial made by Bill Clinton wasn't part of Sir Allen's escape attempt?
February 18, 2009 2:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm sure he has millions in off shore, numbered accounts around the world. He just needs to get off shore.
And it is hard to believe he didn't have a big wad of cash -- ala Tony Soprano -- stashed somewhere to aid in the escape.
Interestingly, he likely could not do a wire transfer because it would reveal the location of money.
Does Antigua not have an extradition treaty with the US?
February 18, 2009 3:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ok. Now's the time for a "wanted" campaign on every network! They could even sponsor a bounty!
February 18, 2009 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
CNN needs to drag out those cadaver hunting horsemen from Houston last seen looking for the missing tot.
February 18, 2009 3:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think in this case he would be better described as "absconding" since he is probably attempting to get whatever moneybags he's got on him out of the country and safely to his Caribbean hideaway where he will fight extradition tooth and nail with the help of his cricket-playing pals.
The bright spot here is that the cricketers he pissed off by fondling their wives must be enjoying a hefty portion of schadenfreude about now.
February 18, 2009 12:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
By BRIAN ROSS, JOSEPH RHEE, and JUSTIN ROOD
February 18, 2009
Manhunt: Accused Financier Scammer Stanford Missing
Texas financier R. Allen Stanford is accused of cheating 50,000 customers out of $8 billion dollars but despite raids Tuesday of his financial empire in Houston, Memphis, and Tupelo, Miss., federal authorities say they do not know the current whereabouts of the CEO.
February 18, 2009 1:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Plenty of people know where he is. It's just a matter of time before one of his co-conspirators decides he needs leniency more than Stanford's friendship and turns him in.
Not that that will do his investors any good.
February 18, 2009 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Note to Headline Writer/Copy Editor:
All flights are one-way flights. All TICKETS are not.
February 18, 2009 1:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
He was arranging a charter, not buying a ticket, I said parenthetically.
February 18, 2009 2:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
You would think every credit card account in his name would have giant red flags all over it and any attempted use of it would alert the authorities. Maybe the one he was trying to use was under an alias, but somehow someone at the company he was trying to buy a ticket from appears to have recognized who he was; otherwise, how is it known that he tried to buy a ticket from them?
February 18, 2009 1:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
A quick comment on the authorities comment that they do not know the whereabouts of the fugitive.
These guys typically have some kind of tracking system for quickly locating them. The security chief at the Stanford Group can almost certainly locate the flamboyant billionaire through electronic means.
The fact that the Feds don't have him means they don't want him yet. Something is being negotiated.
February 18, 2009 1:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Or they're watching his movements and his behavior.
February 18, 2009 2:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, sir/ma'am. You are likely right and I hope that is the case. As an aside, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the many fine comments you have made here on TPM. I have been seeing your signin name since 2005 or early 2006 when I first began reading this blog regularly. Between you and MrsPanstreppon, there have been some truly great contributions.
Merci, TheraP.
February 18, 2009 2:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, thank you for the nice compliment. Yes, I've been here a while. And I'm happy to meet you.
I started following Josh in 2004, I think, when all he had was blog and no one could comment. It's just getting better and better here, I'd say.
Peace be with you. :)
February 18, 2009 2:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not to rain on the positive vibes, but how do the feds watch "behavior?"
February 18, 2009 2:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Feds know that if any of the victims money will ever be returned, 'Sir' Allen will be asked politely if he wants a deal on the charges.
February 18, 2009 2:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Two words - Extraordinary. Rendition.
February 18, 2009 2:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tried to flee? That isn't gonna be helpful at all to "Sir's" attorney when making the case for allowing him bail.
He may have just blown his chances to get a cushy in-penthouse detention deal like Bernie got.
February 18, 2009 2:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
If Plan A fails, then there is always the Ken Lay disappearing act.
February 18, 2009 2:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Where's Duane Dog Chapman when you need him?
February 18, 2009 3:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
How about Cuba? Castro allowed another Republican outlaw, Robert Vesco, to have asylum there for as long as his money held out. Stanford probably has more than Vesco did.
February 18, 2009 7:32 PM | Reply | Permalink