Allen Stanford Sentenced to Life – And Then Some

Allen Stanford, the man convicted of fraud in a ponzi scheme that saw $7 billion dollars go down the drain, has been sentenced to 110 years in prison, Business Insider reports. The sentence comes down...
Allen Stanford Sentenced to Life – And Then Some
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  • Allen Stanford, the man convicted of fraud in a ponzi scheme that saw $7 billion dollars go down the drain, has been sentenced to 110 years in prison, Business Insider reports. The sentence comes down after a five week trial and four days of deliberation that found the ponzi schemer guilty on 13 counts, including conspiracy, mail and wire fraud, obstruction of justice, money laundering, etc.

    On the plus side, he was was acquitted on one count of wire fraud that involved a gift of Super Bowl tickets to a banking regulator in Antigua. He was accused of offering the tickets and substantial bribery money to regulators in an attempt to reshape the country’s banking regulations to better suit his endeavors. The acquittal wasn’t enough to have the sentence reduced to a manageable figure.

    According to CNBC, Stanford ran the ponzi scheme for 20-years, soliciting funds under false pretenses, failing to invest funds as promised and spending those funds for personal use. All told, prosecutors say he skimmed up to $2 billion in customer funds for himself.

    Stanford was once listed as the 205th richest American and had accumulated a personal wealth of $2 billion before he was busted. He owned a fleet of private jets and yachts, and had several homes. He also attempted to personally popularize the game of cricket, by holding a $20 million tournament that was paid for with investor money.

    Stanford had around 28,000 high end investors, all of whom have suffered substantial losses. Prosecutors have seized around $7 billion in assets along with 35 offshore bank accounts held in Stanford’s name. So far the investors have only recovered pennies on the dollar for their original investments.

    His sentence still pales in comparison to the other infamous ponzi schemer, Bernie Madoff, who was sentenced to 150 years after defrauding investors of $65 billion dollars.

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