Allen Stanford Surrenders to FBI
June 19th, 2009Via: Washington Post:
R. Allen Stanford, under investigation in an alleged $8 billion fraud involving sales of certificates of deposit through his Antiguan bank, surrendered to federal agents yesterday, his attorney said.
The case is one of the largest alleged financial frauds in U.S. history and comes just months after New York financier Bernard L. Madoff pleaded guilty to charges in a Ponzi scheme of up to $50 billion.
Stanford, 59, was taken into custody yesterday by FBI agents who were waiting outside his girlfriend’s house in Fredericksburg, Va., said Dick DeGuerin, an attorney for the Texas financier.
“Federal agents in black SUVs surrounded his girlfriend’s house this afternoon, and just sat there,” DeGuerin said. “I told him to walk out and introduce himself. So he did, and he asked them, ‘If you’ve got a warrant, take me into custody. If you don’t, I’m going to Houston.’ And they did, so they arrested him.”
Stanford is scheduled to appear in federal court in Richmond this morning. DeGuerin said he didn’t know whether Stanford would be returned to Houston to face criminal charges handed down yesterday in a sealed indictment by a federal grand jury.
Federal prosecutors may announce as early as today charges against Stanford on securities fraud, according to a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit against Stanford and business associates in February, accusing them of running a massive fraud through Antigua-based Stanford International Bank.
Stanford has said he did nothing wrong. “I’m not a damn swindler,” he told Bloomberg News in April.
