Stanford convicted on 13 of 14 charges; attorney says appeal expected

Texas tycoon R. Allen Stanford, whose financial empire once spanned the Americas, was convicted today on all but one of the 14 counts he faced for bilking investors out of more than $7 billion in a massive Ponzi scheme he operated for 20 years. Jurors reached their verdict against Stanford during their fourth day of deliberation, finding him guilty on all charges except a single count of wire fraud. Stanford simply looked down when the verdict was read. His mother and daughters, who were in the federal courtroom in Houston, hugged one another, and one of the daughters started crying. “We are disappointed in the outcome. We expect to appeal,” Ali Fazel, one of Stanford’s attorneys, said after the hearing, adding the judge’s gag order on attorneys from both sides prevented him from commenting further. Prosecutors declined to comment after the hearing, but during the trial they called Stanford a con artist who lined his pockets with investors’ money to fund a string of failed businesses, pay for a lavish lifestyle that included yachts and private jets, and bribe regulators to help him hide his scheme. Stanford’s attorneys told jurors the financier was a visionary entrepreneur who made money for investors and conducted legitimate business deals. Stanford, 61, who’s been jailed since his indictment in 2009, will remain incarcerated until he is sentenced. He faces up to 20 years, but could spend more years behind bars if U.S. District Judge David Hittner orders the sentences to be served consecutively. Get the full story from The Associated Press here.