Stanford to spend the rest of his life in prison

Former jet-setting Texas tycoon R. Allen Stanford, whose financial empire once spanned the Americas, was sentenced in Houston today to 110 years in prison for bilking investors out of more than $7 billion over 20 years in one of the largest Ponzi schemes in U.S. history. “I’m not here to ask for sympathy or forgiveness or to throw myself at your mercy,” Stanford told U.S. District Judge David Hittner before the latter handed down the sentence. “I did not run a Ponzi scheme. I didn’t defraud anybody.” Prosecutors had asked that Stanford be sentenced to 230 years in prison, the maximum sentence possible, after a jury in March convicted the onetime billionaire on 13 of 14 fraud-related counts. Stanford’s convictions on conspiracy, wire and mail fraud charges followed a seven-week trial. Stanford’s attorneys had asked for a maximum of 44 months, a sentence he could have completed within about eight months because he has been jailed since his arrest in June 2009. During today’s sentencing hearing, Stanford gave a rambling statement to the court in which he denied any wrongdoing. Speaking for more than 40 minutes, Stanford maintained he was a scapegoat and blamed the federal government and a U.S. appointed receiver who took over his companies for tearing down his business empire and preventing his investors from getting any of their money back. Read the full story from The Associated Press here.