15 Jun 2012

Ponzi billionaire sentenced to 110 years in prison

12:50 pm on 15 June 2012

Former US billionaire Allen Stanford has been sentenced to prison for 110 years for running a $US7 billion Ponzi scheme in which he stole money from his investors to finance an extravagant lifestyle in the Caribbean.

US District Judge David Hittner called Stanford's actions egregious criminal frauds, while investors who lost money described Stanford's crimes as worse than those of notorious fraudster, Bernard Madoff.

In March, a jury convicted Stanford, 62, on 13 charges including fraud and conspiracy for selling certificates of deposit from his bank in Antigua to 30,000 investors in the United States and Latin America.

He had already spent some of those proceeds on yachts, girlfriends, and sponsorship of a cricket tournament.

Stanford denied committing fraud or running a Ponzi scheme.

Since his arrest in 2009, he has spent three years in detention after being denied bail.