Judge revokes bond for Texas financier Stanford

A judge has revoked bond for Texas financier Robert Allen Stanford, who’s charged with swindling investors out of $7 billion. U.S. District Judge David Hittner today approved a request by prosecutors to overturn a magistrate judge’s decision to allow Stanford freed on $500,000 bond pending his trial. Prosecutors argue that Stanford’s international ties make him a serious flight risk. Stanford holds dual U.S. and Antiguan citizenship, has an international network of wealthy acquaintances who would help him and possibly access to vast wealth hidden around the world. But Dick DeGuerin, Stanford’s attorney, says his client is penniless, has never tried to flee and wants to fight the charges against him. Stanford and three executives of his now-defunct Houston-based Stanford Financial Group are accused of orchestrating a massive fraud by misusing most of the $7 billion they advised clients to invest in certificates of deposit from the Stanford International Bank in the Caribbean island of Antigua. Investors in Baton Rouge and Lafayette might have lost as much as $1 billion from Stanford’s alleged Ponzi scheme.