FBI agent with bank smarts testifying against Stanford
February 14, 2012
Total Loss:
$7 Billion
An FBI agent who once worked as a banking officer returns to the witness stand this morning in the fraud trial of R. Allen Stanford, accused of masterminding a $7 billion Ponzi scheme.
Agent Robert Martin began his testimony late Monday and could be one of the last government witnesses before the prosecution rests and Stanford’s defense team begins calling their witnesses, including Stanford.
Federal regulators shut down Stanford’s financial services empire, anchored by the Antigua-based Stanford International Bank, in 2009.
Government investigators believe that the bank’s certificates of deposit — which advertised a rate higher than U.S. banks and promised safe, secure and conservative investments — in reality were frauds to bankroll the Texas tycoon’s lavish lifestyle.
The government’s star witness, former Stanford Financial CFO James Davis, testified that two-thirds of the bank’s funds were spent on loans to Stanford and more than 100 other companies as well as bribes to an internal auditor and Antigua bank regulator.
Source:
Houston Chronicle
Posted in:
Collusive Networks