No bail for Sir Allen
A US judge has ruled to keep investor Sir Allen Stanford behind bars.
Judge David Hittner ruled yesterday that his $500,000 bond that was granted by a magistrate judge be revoked.
As a result, he will have to remain imprisoned until his trial which may not come up for hearing in under a year.
It was Hittner who ruled that Sir Allen was a flight risk because of his intricate network of international connections and businesses.
US authorities brought criminal and civl charges against him for running a Ponzi scheme where new investors are paid from the earnings of earlier investors.
Sir Allen maintained his innocence throughout and his lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, yesterday stated that he will continue fighting to secure his release on bail.
“Given the new evidence, we presented in our motion to reconsider I’m surprised and disappointed that it was overruled without a hearing,” DeGuerin said in a statement released by his office and quoted on Bloomberg.
Sir Allen is kept in a county jail and Deguerin wants him transferred to a federal detention centre which puts him closer to his law office in downtown Houston. Where he is kept now is an hour’s drive from Deguerin’s offices.
DeGuerin stated this month that the government had misrepresented key facts in its case.
According to Bloomberg, Sir Allen, who has dual U.S. and Antiguan citizenship, has surrendered his three passports, including one that was found in the government’s possession three days after prosecutors told Hittner its whereabouts were unknown.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission sued Stanford, two associates and three of his companies in February, alleging they defrauded investors by misrepresenting the safety and regulation of the bank’s investment portfolio. Stanford investors were told their funds were held primarily in cash and readily liquid equivalents. The government contends the funds were invested largely in private equity and overvalued real estate.