Stanford guilty of huge Ponzi fraud

Mar 6 2012

A jury has convicted US financier R Allen Stanford on all but one of the charges he faced for allegedly conning investors out of more than 7 billion dollars (£4.4 billion) in one of the largest Ponzi schemes in US history.

The federal jurors in Houston found Stanford guilty on 13 of the 14 counts he faced. They found Stanford not guilty on one count of wire fraud.

The 61-year-old Texas financier looked down when the verdict was read.

He faces up to 20 years in prison for the most serious charges but could be imprisoned for much longer if a judge orders his sentences be served consecutively.

Prosecutors say Stanford orchestrated a 20-year scheme that took billions through the sale of certificates of deposit from his Caribbean bank.

Stanford's lawyers blamed his ex-chief financial officer.