Former Texas tycoon R. Allen Stanford has been sentenced to 110 years in prison as a result of bilking investors out of $7 billion over a span of 20 years. The sentence was given on Thursday by U.S. District Judge David Hittner during a court hearing. During the hearing, two people spoke on the behalf of Stanford’s investors and how the Ponzi scheme influenced their lives.
The prosecutors working on the case asked for a 230 year sentence for Stanford, which would be the max penalty allowed after a jury conviction. Stanford was convicted on 13 of 14 counts, all of them related to fraud. A trial that lasted seven weeks saw Stanford convicted on mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy. The defense attorneys asked for a 44 month sentence, which would have ended after eight months because Stanford has been in jail since being arrested back in June of 2009.
“I’m not here to ask for sympathy or forgiveness or to throw myself at your mercy,” Stanford told Hittner. “I did not run a Ponzi scheme. I didn’t defraud anybody.”
At one time, Stanford was considered to be one of the richest men in the United States, with a net worth of over $2 billion. His empire included the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America. Stanford’s assets were seized after his arrest, causing him to use court-appointed attorneys for his case.
Three former executives of Stanford are scheduled to stand trial this September while a former Antiguan financial regulator has been indicted in the case and is waiting for his extradition to the United States.