Stanford to be tried alone

A United States federal judge has ruled that indicted Texan financier R Allen Stanford will be tried alone when the hearing into his alleged US$7 billion Ponzi scheme gets underway next January.

US District Judge David Hittner approved an application from three former Stanford International Bank executives, who are alleged co-conspirators, that they be tried separately from their former boss.

Stanford is awaiting trial on 21 criminal charges for allegedly defrauding 20,000 investors through bogus certificates of deposit at his bank, based in Antigua.

His trial starts January 24, 2011.

Laura Pendergest-Holt, the former chief investment officer, Gil Lopez, the former accounting chief, and Mark Kuhrt, the global controller, asked for the separate trial after Stanford repeatedly changed defence attorneys and engaged in conduct "egregious and circus-like," according Pendergest-Holt's lawyer, Dan Cogdell.

Hittner said all three co-defendants will be tried together sometime after Stanford's trial concludes.

"This severance helps Laura in every way possible," Cogdell told reporters at last Wednesday's handing down of Hittner's decision.

With Stanford being tried first, he said, the other defendants will have "free discovery, the opportunity to evaluate government witnesses and to be able to impeach them if their story changes. It's a critical advantage," he said.

Stanford's lawyer, Robert Bennett, said the judge's decision was expected.

"We will welcome an opportunity to show that R. Allen Stanford is innocent as charged," he said, adding that he will continue to press for his client's release from pre-trial detention so that he can "more properly prepare for his defence."

Stanford, who developed a corporate empire in Antigua that also involved a local commercial bank, restaurants and the lucrative Stanford Twenty20 cricket franchise, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the charges against him.

- CMC