ECB suspend Stanford talks as Texan faces $8bn fraud charge
Stanford has been charged with an $8bn fraud
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Tuesday, 17, Feb 2009 10:18
Sir Allen Stanford has been charged $8 billion investment fraud by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The news has prompted the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to suspend all sponsorship negotiations with the Texas billionaire.
Having pioneered Twenty20 cricket in the West Indies, including the inaugural $20million match between England and a West Indies XI, Stanford was expected to become a major backer of the proposed English Premier League Twenty20 tournament due to begin next year.
The charges also make the proposed quadrangular Twenty20 series in May extremely doubtful as Stanford has now had all of his assets frozen by the SEC.
"The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Robert Allen Stanford and three of his companies for orchestrating a fraudulent, multi-billion dollar investment scheme centring on an $8bn CD (certificate of deposit) programme," a SEC statement said.
"The SEC's complaint, filed in federal court in Dallas, alleges that acting through a network of SGC (Stanford Group Company) financial advisers, SIB (Stanford International Bank) has sold approximately eight billion US dollars of so-called "certificates of deposit" to investors by promising improbable and unsubstantiated high interest rates.
"These rates were supposedly earned through SIB's unique investment strategy, which purportedly allowed the bank to achieve double-digit returns on its investments for the past 15 years."
The ECB released a short statement saying: "Following allegations made today by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and their decision to apply for a temporary restraining order which was filed in a Dallas/Fort Worth court, the England and Wales Cricket Board and the West Indies Cricket Board have suspended negotiations with Sir Allen Stanford and his financial corporation concerning a new sponsorship deal."
Stanford denies all charges.