Ex-Stanford executive gets 5-year sentence

The star prosecution witness in the trial of convicted Texas financier R. Allen Stanford was sentenced today to five years in prison for helping to bilk investors out of more than $7 billion in one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in U.S. history. James M. Davis had faced up to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2009 to three fraud and conspiracy charges as part of an agreement with prosecutors. “I am ashamed and I’m embarrassed,” Davis said at the sentencing hearing at Houston federal court. “I’ve perverted what was right, and I hurt thousands of investors. I betrayed their trust and also associates and neighbors and friends and my family.” Prosecutors say Stanford persuaded investors to buy certificates of deposit from his Caribbean bank, then used that money to bankroll a string of failed businesses and his own lavish lifestyle, including a fleet of private jets and yachts. At Stanford’s trial last year, Davis—the former chief financial officer of Stanford’s companies—portrayed his ex-boss as the leader of the fraud who burned through billions of CD deposits. He testified that he and Stanford faked the bank’s profits and fabricated documents to hide the fraud. Stanford, a one-time billionaire, was convicted in March on 13 of 14 fraud-related counts. He was sentenced to 110 years in prison and is serving his sentence in a central Florida prison. The Associated Press has more on today’s sentencing here.