Billionaire Stanford to take the Fifth in fraud case

DALLAS -- Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford is asserting his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in the federal government's fraud case against him and his companies.

In court papers filed Wednesday in federal court in Dallas, Stanford said he will "decline to testify, provide an accounting or produce any documents" related to the Securities and Exchange Commission's civil case alleging he ran a "massive Ponzi scheme."

The SEC has accused Stanford and his top officers of an $8 billion fraud related to certificates of deposits and other investments at the Stanford International Bank in Antigua.

The SEC will make a case Thursday for an injunction allowing a court-appointed receiver continued control over the assets of Stanford and his companies.