Former Stanford CFO back on the stand as trial enters third week

Former Stanford Financial CFO James Davis returns to the witness stand this morning to kick off day 11 of the fraud trial against R. Allen Stanford, accused in a $7 billion Ponzi scheme that bilked thousands of investors worldwide. As The Houston Chronicle reports, it is Davis’ third day of testifying. He pleaded guilty in 2009 to his role in the scheme and agreed to testify against his former boss and Baylor University roommate. Stanford, once worth $2 billion, is accused in a 14-count indictment of funneling money from investors’ certificates of deposits through his Antigua bank—Stanford International—to bankroll more than 100 other companies and his own jet-setting lifestyle. Last week, Davis testified that the bank never made a profit. Stanford used a Swiss bank account to secretly sock away millions of dollars for bribes made to an Antiguan bank regulator, his own “independent auditor,” and for his own personal use, according to testimony. Stanford was arrested a few months after federal regulators shut down his offices in Houston and Antigua in 2009 and has been in federal detention ever since. He denies all charges. Houston Chronicle reporter Terri Langford is providing live updates from the courtroom at her Twitter account here. Also, see a slideshow of some of Stanford’s luxury office goods—including a bronze statue, several paintings and an antique table—that were among 25 truckloads of items taken from his Miami offices last week here.