Judge revokes bond for Stanford
HOUSTON -- A judge has revoked bond for Texas financier R. Allen Stanford, who's charged with swindling investors out of $7 billion.
U.S. District Judge David Hittner on Tuesday approved a request by prosecutors to overturn a magistrate judge's decision to allow Stanford freed on $500,000 bond pending his trial.
It was not immediately known if Stanford's attorneys would appeal the decision.
Hittner's written decision came after a four-hour court hearing on Monday.
Prosecutors, who appealed last week's decision to grant Stanford a bond, told Hittner the financier is a serious flight risk because of his international ties — including holding dual U.S. and Antiguan citizenship, having an international network of wealthy acquaintances and possibly having access to vast wealth hidden around the world.
Prosecutor Gregg Costa argued these international ties differentiate him from other high-profile fraud defendants, including former Enron Corp. executives Jeffrey Skilling and Ken Lay, who were freed on bond before their trials.
But Dick DeGuerin, Stanford's attorney, says his client is penniless, has never tried to flee and wants to fight the charges against him.
If not for Hittner's decision, Stanford would have been released from custody on Friday, as court records show the $100,000 in cash needed for his bond had been paid.
"Allen Stanford has been spending the months since [the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission] first accused him meeting with lawyers in Houston and Washington, D.C., preparing for the fight ahead of him," DeGuerin wrote in an e-mail to the Associated Press. "I'm confident that when the truth comes out a fair jury will find that Allen Stanford did not defraud anyone."
Stanford and three executives of Houston-based Stanford Financial Group are accused of orchestrating a fraud by misusing most of the $7 billion they advised clients to invest in certificates of deposit from the Stanford International Bank in Antigua.
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