R.
Allen Stanford
, found guilty ofleading a $7 billion international fraud by a U.S. jury, wassentenced to 110 years in prison after a prosecutor said hetreated his victims like “road kill.â€
U.S. District Judge David Hittner imposed the sentencetoday in Houston, also ordering Stanford to forfeit$5.9 billion. Jurors in March convicted the Stanford FinancialGroup principal of 13 charges, including five counts of mailfraud and four of
wire fraud
.
The jury found that Stanford, 62, lied to buyers ofcertificates of deposit issued by his Antigua-based StanfordInternational Bank Ltd. and sold in the U.S. by his Houston-based securities firm. Prosecutors said Stanford wasted investormoney on failing businesses, yachts and cricket tournaments andsecretly borrowed as much as $2 billion from his bank.
“From beginning to end, he’s treated his victims like roadkill,†Assistant U.S. Attorney William Stellmach told the judgetoday before a courtroom packed with Stanford’s victims. “AllenStanford doesn’t deserve anyone’s sympathy and he doesn’tdeserve your honor’s mercy.â€
Stanford, whose sentence is 40 years shorter than theprison term meted out to
Bernard Madoff
in 2009, defendedhimself to the end.
‘Not a Thief’
“I’ve been called a lot of things -- arrogant, abrasive, ason of a gun, difficult, very opinionated and strong-willed. ButI am not a thief,†Stanford, dressed in a green prison garb,told the judge today. “I never planned to, never did, eithercorporately or personally, defraud anyone and never set out todo that.â€
Prosecutors had asked for a 230-year term, the maximumunder federal sentencing guidelines. Ali Fazel, one ofStanford’s lawyers, requested a 10-year term for his client.
“Thirty years and 110 years are effectively the samesentence,†Doug Burns, a former prosecutor, said in aninterview after the sentencing. “The judge obviously felt avery high sentence was necessary.â€
Stanford, who was ranked 205 on Forbes magazine’s 2008 listof the richest Americans, with a net worth of $2.2 billion, hasbeen jailed since being indicted in June 2009 after prosecutorssaid he might try to flee.
“Thirty years and 110 years are effectively the samesentence,†Doug Burns, a former prosecutor, said in aninterview after the sentencing. “The judge obviously felt avery high sentence was necessary.â€
Stanford, who was ranked 205 on Forbes magazine’s 2008 listof the richest Americans, with a net worth of $2.2 billion, hasbeen jailed since being indicted in June 2009 after prosecutorssaid he might try to flee.
Finance Chief Jurors rejected defense claims that investors receivedadequate disclosures of how their money was being spent and thatany wrongdoing was the fault of finance chief James Davis, whopleaded guilty to fraud and testified against Stanford.
More than 300 victims’ letters were received by the court.Houston investor Cassie Wilkinson, 62, who said she lost about$500,000 to Stanford, was on hand for the sentencing.
“It was economic homicide,†she said before the hearing.“For those who lost everything, their lives as they knew it aregone, especially for the older ones.â€