Allen Stanford hospitalized hours before his top CFO pleads guilty to $7 billion fraud in plea deal with federal investigators. Sanford, a Texas billionaire is accused of a $7 billion Ponzi scheme through the sale of CDs through his Antiguan bank.
Texas government attorneys with the Securities and Exchange Commission accepted a plea deal with Stanford financial CFO in a $7 billion fraudulent scheme.
Houston, TX–Stanford International Bank former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) James Davis pled guilty in a plea deal agreement with federal prosecutors on Thursday in a Houston federal court room. Davis, a 60 year-old life time friend and former Baylor University college roommate, pled guilty to three felony counts of fraud and obstruction in his involvement of a $7 billion Ponzi scheme. The former Stanford International Bank officer was accused of being involved in a fraudulent scheme of selling Antigua bank issued certificates of deposit to investors.
Federal plea agreement documents revealed in a press release by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) http://www.usdoj.gov James M. Davis, former CFO for Houston headquartered Stanford Financial Group (SFG) was charged on June 18, 2009 with following crimes by government attorneys with the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section of the Department of Justice: conspiracy to commit mail, wire, and securities fraud; mail fraud; and conspiracy to obstruct a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) http://www.sec.gov investigation. Davis admitted he was part of an integral part of defrauding investors of $7 billion in certificates of deposit (CDS) issued through Stanford International bank Ltd. (SIBL). The offshore bank located on the island of Antigua, SIBL, was used to misuse, misappropriate, and divert investor assets. The Department of Justice summarized the plea documents in a press release on their website and also announced Davis agreed to forfeit $1 billion in fraud proceeds to the government.
Allen Stanford the former head of Stanford International Bank, Bank of Antigua, and numerous other financial entities stretching from Texas to Antigua and other U.S. Virgin Islands, according to Wikipedia http://www.wikipedia.org, was transported from the Conroe, Texas jail where is being detained while awaiting trial, to Conroe Regional Medical Center by emergency medical services (EMS) personnel early this morning. The accused Texas swindler was found to have an irregular electrocardiogram (EKG) and rapid heart rate around 5:30 a.m. on August, 27 2009.
The United States federal government seized Stanford’s privately held financial services group earlier this year including the Galleria Tower II headquarters in Uptown Houston, Texas. A federal receiver was appointed in February 2009 after the securities fraud charges were filed by prosecutors, and government lawyers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) http://www.sec.gov amended their complaint and added a Ponzi scheme charge. The criminal investigation involved numerous federal agencies including the Houston Field Office of the Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI) http://www.fbi.gov; Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS) http://www.irs.gov; and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Federal investigators with the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section continue to work with foreign agencies to freeze and acquire assets in the United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland, and several other countries.
Texas government lawyer news by legal news reporter Heather L. Ryan
