Spare a thought for Allen Stanford who gets sentenced today

[Doc Lynam]

In June 2008, Sir Allen Stanford landed his helicopter on the turf at Lord's with a box full of cash and the world seemingly at his feet.
Almost four years to the day he will sit in court in Texas facing the prospect of a 230-year jail sentence.
Prosecutors have described the tycoon as a "ruthless predator" whose $7bn "Ponzi" scheme was among the biggest frauds ever undertaken.
It is a world away from the moment Stanford announced his arrival on the international stage by bankrolling a multi-million pound Twenty20 challenge between England and the West Indies.
Once named the 605th richest person in the world, Stanford was convicted in March of orchestrating a 20-year scheme that took in billions through the sale of bogus certificates of deposit from his Caribbean bank.
Thousands of victims are still trying to get their money back and the jury at his trial decided that federal authorities should try to seize $330m in frozen funds that Stanford stashed in 29 foreign bank accounts.
His lawyers are seeking a prison term of 31 to 44 months, which could result in his immediate release because he has already been in custody for three years.
But, in a filing to the US District Court in Houston, prosecutors said: "Robert Allen Stanford is a ruthless predator responsible for one of the most egregious frauds in history.
"The sheer magnitude of the money stolen, the duration of the crime, and the extent to which Stanford lived a life steeped in deceit are almost unrivalled."
They dismissed calls for leniency, saying that Stanford's request reflected "an audacity that only further illustrates his depravity".
A maximum sentence for Stanford would be 80 years longer than Bernard Madoff got in 2009 for his Ponzi scheme and according to prosecutors reflects Stanford's place as "among the greediest, most selfish, and utterly remorseless criminals".
Stanford, a dual American and Antiguan citizen, was stripped of the knighthood he was awarded by Antigua's governor general in 2006.
His trial also laid bare the 6ft 5in tycoon's complex private life.
His sentencing will not bring to an end his legal responsibilities - he also faces civil charges by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

[Stat Brother]

A strange thread title for a man who has robbed, lied, defrauded thousands of innocent Caribbean people.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

What sort of thought ? He's a convicted fraudster living on money he stole, are we to feel sorry for him ?

 

[backson]

Im sure Matt Prior's distraught, after seeing his wife sitting on Stanford's lap a few years back

 

[withdeanwombat]

In June 2008, Sir Allen Stanford landed his helicopter on the turf at Lord's with a box full of somebody elses cash and the world seemingly at his feet..

Allegedly ,of course.

 

[Austrian Gull]

Im sure Matt Prior's distraught, after seeing his wife sitting on Stanford's lap a few years back

Exactly the first thing that came to my mind!

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Allegedly ,of course.

Which part is "allegedly" ? We definitely had a June in 2008 .... I distinctly remember him landing his chopper at lords .... he (sort of) had the world at his feet .... he has been convicted of a $7bn fraud. I don't think there's anything uncertain in any of that.

 

[Woodchip]

The guy is a crook. Did people spare a thought for the Krays when they were convicted? How about the lot that robbed £50m from Kent?

 

[Eddiespearritt]

Strange story - he could go to prison for 230 years or he could be released today - or presumably anything in between. I have no sympathy or thoughts to spare for such people - and because the numbers involved are mind boggling it becomes somehow sanitised crime. If someone stole £10,000 from a small business with a weapon it would be heinous - the fact that someone steals millions from investors should be punished in the same proportions.

 

[Doc Lynam]

Clearly many lovers of irony here! Next your going to tell me you didn't know it was written in an Antiguan accent.

 

[Gritt23]

What I find strange about this story is how the British media have consigned it to the back cupboard. Unless Stanford gets some record-breaking sentence, I wouldn't expect it to even make the news, and even then it'll be a news item because of the sentence. Everyone seems so embarrassed that we were fooled by him and his money, that we'd rather ignore the case.

 

[Gritt23]

It all looked so good for him, once upon a time.

But let's face it, when you make as many enemies as him, it was all going to come back and bite him eventually.

Ouch.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Which part is "allegedly" ? We definitely had a June in 2008 .... I distinctly remember him landing his chopper at lords .... he (sort of) had the world at his feet .... he has been convicted of a $7bn fraud. I don't think there's anything uncertain in any of that.

I think WW was trying to be amusing by altering the original quote with the addition of "someone elses (sic)"

 

[Lady Whistledown]

To save me the bother of looking it up, what exactly is a Ponzi scheme?

 

[Gritt23]

To save me the bother of looking it up, what exactly is a Ponzi scheme?

It's a fraudulent investment scheme, whereby you appear to be getting high returns on your investment, but really the returns are coming out of your capital pot. It works on the basis that more people investment than withdraw their investment.

Eg.
You invest £100 with me, and 6 months later you get a £10 dividend. Wow, 10% return in 6 months, that'll be 20% pa.
10 more people invest £100 each, and I pay out each of them £10 6 months later, and you another £10.
So, a year in I was given £1,100 to invest, which I did so and got 3% from ING or whatever. But the investment is only £990, because I've paid out £120 in "dividends". But I never tell anyone that I'm paying your dividends out of your own capital. Instead I tell the World that my investement scheme is paying out at 20% pa, and that draws in loads more "investors".

It just grows and grows from there, and won't collapse unless I have a massive run of investors pulling their money out. As long as I maintain the confidence, which I do so with great dividend pay-outs, then it just grows and grows.

 

[jd312]

Never. He painted bats black for christ's sake.

 

[sten_super]

To save me the bother of looking it up, what exactly is a Ponzi scheme?

You tell Mr X that you will get him a £200 return on his £1000 investment, so he gives you £1000. You don't invest the money, but give him £200 of your own money. You then tell Mr Y that you can get him a £400 return on his £2000 investment, just look what you've done for Mr X, so he gives you £2000, and you give him £400 of the £1000 that you received from Mr X. You tell Mr Z that you can get him £600 return on £3000, take the £3000, give him £600 received from Mr X and Mr Y, etc, etc.

Basically there's no investing of funds, and no profit, you simply pay out 'returns' using money received from investors. If you do it on a grand enough scale you'll have enough money swilling about to repay any investors that want to leave the 'fund' without raising suspicion.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Thanks

Impressive that he can make so much money before getting rumbled.

 

[Kumquat]

This is my favourite West Indian cricket related story........

There is a story concerning Chris Gayle which is often retold whenever his name crops up in informal discussions over a beer or two. Once, long before the IPL and spats with the West Indies Cricket Board, way before the prospect of the itinerant rent-a-six cricketer became fact, Gayle found himself with West Indies down at Arundel and, at lunch, sitting next to John Barclay, old Etonian, brave batsman, former MCC president, ex-England manager, all round enthusiastic good egg known to all as Trout. As is his wont, Trout was waxing lyrical about his time in cricket, his touring experiences, how much he loved the Caribbean, and banged off memory after memory scarcely drawing breath. Gayle soaked it all up in silence before turning to Trout: "You get much pussy?"

 

[Tricky Dicky]

I think WW was trying to be amusing by altering the original quote with the addition of "someone elses (sic)"

If it's not overtly amusing - I need a smillie to tell me it's supposed to be funny.