The bell has finally tolled for Allen Stanford.
Federal prosecutors today filed a criminal indictment against the billionaire Texan, as well as three other Stanford Financial Group executives and the former head of the Antiguan bank regulatory agency, charging them with helping to orchestrate a $7 billion Ponzi scheme.
The cricket-loving 21st century Gatsby was arrested in Virginia last night, and is scheduled to make an initial appearance today in Richmond, according to a Justice Department press release.
DOJ adds:
According to the indictment, Stanford and his co-defendants engaged in a scheme to defraud investors who purchased approximately $7 billion in certificates of deposit administered by Stanford International Bank Ltd. (SIBL), an offshore bank controlled by Stanford and located on the island of Antigua. Stanford and his co-defendants allegedly misused and misappropriated most of those investor assets, including diverting more than $1.6 billion into undisclosed personal loans to Stanford himself, while misrepresenting to investors SIBL’s financial condition, its investment strategy and the extent of its regulatory oversight by Antiguan authorities.
The SEC had previously filed civil charges against Stanford. Not indicted is SFG number 2 Jim Davis, suggesting that his cooperation with the government, reported previously, was extensive.