Securities Law
Stanford Tries to Surrender, But Feds Don’t Want Him
Posted May 1, 2009, 09:25 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Billionaire financier R. Allen Stanford marched the few blocks from his lawyer’s office to the downtown courthouse to surrender to federal authorities yesterday in an effort to show he has no plans to run from his legal troubles.
But the U.S. Marshals Office noted there is no warrant for Stanford’s arrest and declined to take him into custody, the Houston Chronicle reports.
Stanford has been accused of running an $8 billion investment fraud, but he has not been indicted on criminal charges. Instead he faces a civil suit by the Securities and Exchange Commission that contends he orchestrated a “massive, ongoing fraud” by promising improbable returns on certificates of deposit.
Stanford’s lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, accompanied him to the courthouse. DeGuerin told the Chronicle that he wants to make clear his client is available to federal authorities and he doesn’t need to be subjected to a “perp walk” in front of the media.