Stanford used funds for resort

Wed, February 01, 2012 - 10:29 AM

HOUSTON, Texas – Jurors in the Allen Stanford fraud trial today saw an undated video clip of a lavish “Stanford World in Antigua” that prosecutors suggested was built by money the disgraced financier secretly borrowed from his Antigua-based Stanford International Bank (SIB).

“Rich people do not get impressed very easily,” Stanford was heard to say in the video as he addressed a meeting in Antigua.

“They have to go back literally blown away saying ‘I have a confidence and a trust that I will do business in that part of the world.’”

In the video, he said his goal in building a private airplane hangar, restaurants, cricket ground and banking facilities on lands surrounding SIB, was to persuade the “richest people in the world” that it was safe to invest in the country.

Arnold Knoche, a former president of Stanford Development Corporation testified that Stanford told him he had used his “personal resources” in financing “Stanford World in Antigua”.

Prosecutors allege that Stanford siphoned off over one billion dollars in depositors’ money for his personal use.

Stanford, 61, who was indicted in June 2009 as the head of what the US government alleges was a seven billion-dollar Ponzi scheme that involved certificates of deposit issued at his bank, faces 14 counts including mail fraud, wire fraud and obstruction of justice.

He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in jail. (CMC)