Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford gets 110 years
NEW YORK. June 15. KAZINFORM Disgraced financier Allen Stanford was sentenced to 110 years in prison on Thursday for orchestrating a $7 billion fraud, one of the largest in U.S. historym according to CNNMoney.
Prosecutors had called for the 62-year-old Stanford to receive the maximum sentence of 230 years in prison, calling him "a ruthless predator responsible for one of the most egregious frauds in history." The defense called for a sentence between 31 and 44 months, according to court filings, most or all of which Stanford would have already served.
By comparison, notorious Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff , believed to have cheated his victims out of around $20 billion, received a 150-year jail term in 2009.
In March, Stanford was found guilty on 13 counts of fraud-related charges by a jury in Houston after a five-week trial.
Stanford surrendered to federal authorities in 2009 after being accused of orchestrating a massive fraud stretching two decades. Prosecutors charged that Stanford sold billions of dollars in certificates of deposit administered by Stanford International Bank Ltd., an offshore bank in Antigua, ensnaring thousands of victims.
Clients were told that these certificates of deposit averaged a rate of return 3-4% higher than U.S. CD's, and that the bank made safe investments in products like stocks and bonds. But in fact, prosecutors said, Stanford diverted the proceeds into personal ventures like real estate properties and failing businesses.
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