Allen Stanford found guilty of vast fraud

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A jury found on Thursday that millions of dollars in foreign accounts linked to convicted fraudster Allen Stanford were the proceeds of his Ponzi schem

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senat

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Allen Stanford, facing sentencing for running a $7 billion Ponzi scheme, on Thursday blamed the U.S. government for ruining his business and said he never intended to defraud anyone. "They destroyed it and turned it to nothing," Stanford said in federal court in Houston, where he was found guilty last March of fraud and conspiracy. "Stanford was a real brick-and-mortar global financial empire." Stanford spoke haltingly and appeared to struggle to control emotion at the sentencing hearing. ...

(Reuters) - The final two defendants convicted for helping the former Texas billionaire financier Allen Stanford swindle investors were each sentenced on Thursday to 20 years in prison over their roles in his $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme. Gilbert Lopez, the former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group, and former controller Mark Kuhrt were sentenced by U.S. District Judge David Hittner in Houston. Jurors in November had convicted both defendants on nine counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy after a five-week trial. Each was also found not guilty on one wire fraud count.

In Houston Tuesday, a federal jury convicted Texas financier R. Allen Stanford of running a massive ponzi scheme. Jurors agreed with prosecutors, who claimed he ran a global scheme that lasted more than 20 years and involved more than $7 billion dollars in investments. Andrew Schneider of member station KUHF reports.