THE LAVISH lifestyle enjoyed by Sir Allen Stanford, the Texas billionaire charged by US financial regulators with “massive” investment fraud, has been laid bare by court documents that emerged yesterday.
A $10 million Florida mansion, bills of up to $75,000 for children's Christmas presents and holidays, and a $100 million fleet of private jets topped a list of Sir Allen's outgoings and assets in the documents obtained by the Financial Timesfrom a court case two years ago.
Details of his lifestyle emerged as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) continued its inquiry into the billionaire’s affairs and allegations that his Antigua-based Stanford International Bank was at the centre of an $8 billion fraud (€6.34 billion) that may have drawn in tens of thousands of investors.
The criminal inquiry by the FBI and justice department is expected to resemble that of Enron seven years ago, when a special taskforce was formed to investigate allegations of criminal behaviour at the Houston-based energy company.
A law firm, representing 100 Stanford clients, filed a civil lawsuit in Texas accusing him of fraud, conspiracy and breach of contract. It is thought to be the first such action by investors.
James A Dunlap Jr and Associates LLC, a law firm in Georgia, filed its suit on behalf of a Colorado-based charity, the Foundation for the Development of Healthy Teeth in a Healthy Body.
The 2007 court case against Sir Allen was brought by a woman who claims to be the mother of two children by him. The documents detail personal expenditure ranging from a $100,000 a week yacht to a $25,000 a month Florida home.
In the paternity suit, Louise Sage Stanford said the family once lived together in a $10 million mansion known as the Wackenhut Castle after its builder, the former FBI agent and private security tycoon George Wackenhut.
Ms Stanford’s claims – admitted by Sir Allen – included his chartering of the $100,000 yacht for a vacation with the children in Nantucket, the purchase of gifts and vacations costing from $30,000 to $75,000, and his ownership of a six-strong fleet of private jets. Ms Stanford estimated Sir Allen’s net worth at $2 billion.
Sir Allen stayed out of sight yesterday as governments and clients counted the cost of his alleged $8 billion securities scam.
As customers from Houston to Caracas desperately sought to recoup their investments, the billionaire’s whereabouts were a mystery again even after FBI agents served the 58-year-old financier with a formal fraud complaint on Thursday.
Sir Allen, previously a publicity-seeking sports tycoon with a knighthood bestowed by the tiny Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda, has been lying low since the US Securities and Exchange Commission charged him, two colleagues and three of his companies with "massive, ongoing fraud". – ( Financial Timesservice / Reuters)
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