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Saturday, December 26, 2009
A federal judge has denied alleged swindler Allen Stanford's latest bid to be released from prison pending his January 2011 trial.
Without comment, US District Judge David Hittner on last Wednesday issued an order denying the pleas from Stanford's lawyers and family that cited his physical and mental deterioration and inability to help prepare his defense.
Hittner's order said he had considered the request and supporting documentation filed this week, which included a spate of letters from family members and friends.
"He knows running would get him nowhere, it would only make things worse," Stanford's son Robert A. Stanford Jr. wrote in one of the letters. "I just want my dad to have a chance to prove himself, is that too much to ask for?"
Shortly after Stanford's June indictment, the judge ordered that he remain jailed pending trial because he was a flight risk.
A U.S. magistrate originally approved Stanford's release pending trial with strict bond conditions, but Hittner revoked that order, citing Stanford's dual U.S. and Antiguan citizenship and frequent world travels. Stanford's first legal team appealed to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which in August upheld Hittner's ruling.
Stanford, 59, has been in custody since June 19, when he was indicted on 21 criminal charges related to an alleged $7 billion Ponzi scheme centered on fraudulent certificates of deposit issued by his offshore bank on the Caribbean island of Antigua.
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