Judge appoints public defender for Stanford

HOUSTON -- Jailed Texas financier R. Allen Stanford wanted former White House political adviser Karl Rove's attorney to represent him against charges he bilked investors out of $7 billion.

Instead he's getting a public defender.

During a brief court hearing Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David Hittner appointed the federal public defender office in Houston to represent Stanford after his previous attorney, Dick DeGuerin, indicated he no longer wanted to be on the case.

DeGuerin told Hittner he still wanted to withdraw, in part because he has no assurances he'll be paid. But Washington-based attorney Robert Luskin, who Stanford wants to hire, also wants these same assurances.

Hittner asked Stanford if he had any money to hire an attorney.

Stanford, who sat in the jury box, unshaven and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, at first replied yes, saying there are funds from an insurance policy that would pay for his legal fees.

But a court-appointed receiver in a civil lawsuit against Stanford filed in Dallas by the Securities and Exchange Commission has seized all of his assets, including proceeds from the insurance policy. DeGuerin says Stanford, who was considered one of the richest men in the U.S. with an estimated net worth of more than $2 billion, is now penniless.

"Do you have sufficient funds to retain an attorney to represent you?" Hittner asked Stanford.

"I don't know the answer to that your honor," Stanford replied.

Hittner then made the attorney change.

"The case has to get ready for trial. This is the business before the court," Hittner said. "The man needs an attorney."

Stanford and other executives of the now defunct Houston-based Stanford Financial Group are accused of orchestrating a massive Ponzi scheme by advising clients to invest more than $7 billion in certificates of deposit from the Stanford International Bank in the Caribbean island of Antigua.

Investors were promised their investments were safe and were scrutinized by Antigua's bank regulator and an independent auditor.