A MAN IN custody in the US who is awaiting trial on charges he swindled investors in a $7 billion Ponzi scheme, has been given medical treatment after getting into a fight with an inmate in a Texas jail.

Allen Stanford got into an altercation with another inmate, according to Alfredo Perez, a spokesman for the Houston office of the US Marshals Service. “He is being examined by medical staff and treated for his injuries, which aren’t life-threatening.”

Mr Perez said the incident happened at about 10am last Thursday.

Mr Stanford (59), who has been in custody since being indicted in June, faces 21 felony charges for allegedly paying investors “improbable if not impossible” returns by taking funds from later investors in certificates of deposit at Antigua-based Stanford International Bank. The instruments, which paid high returns, were marketed around the world, particularly in the US and Latin America.

“Mr Stanford is fine,” said Kent Schaffer, his court-appointed lawyer. “Contrary to reports, he is not in intensive care at the hospital. I understand his injuries are not serious enough to keep him in the hospital.”

Mr Schaffer said he was considering options for appealing a federal judge’s finding that Mr Stanford was a flight risk and should be held in jail without bond until trial, which could be a year or more away. He said he planned to file a petition next month with the US court of appeals in New Orleans.

A US court previously heard Mr Stanford, who spent the last 15 years living in the Caribbean where he was knighted by the Antiguan government, had a network of wealthy associates and had at least two passports.

Mr Stanford, who was ranked 205th on Forbes 2008 list of the richest Americans, was taken to hospital with a heart rate of 300 beats a minute on August 27th, shortly before he was to appear in court in Houston. – (Bloomberg)