Financier Wins Transfer After Bruising Fight in Jail

The Texas financier R. Allen Stanford, awaiting trial on charges that he led a $7 billion investor fraud, was granted a transfer on Monday from a private Texas jail to a federal one closer to his lawyers in downtown Houston.

Mr. Stanford, who is being detained without bail, is recovering from injuries suffered in a fight with another inmate on Thursday. He suffered a concussion, two black eyes and a broken nose, according to his lawyer, Kent Schaffer.

Federal District Judge David Hittner signed an order transferring Mr. Stanford to the federal jail in Houston without mentioning the fight. The altercation occurred at the Joe Corley detention center in Conroe, north of Houston, where Mr. Stanford, 59, has been held since he was indicted in June on charges of bilking investors through a scheme involving Antiguan bank certificates.

“The court recognizes the extraordinary nature and complexity of this case, the extent and gravity of the charges levied against Stanford, the hundreds of thousands of records involved, and the enormous amount of time no doubt necessary to review those documents and adequately prepare a defense,” Judge Hittner said in his order.

The downtown jail is a few blocks from the offices of Mr. Schaffer and the office of the federal public defender, whom the judge appointed to represent Mr. Stanford on Sept. 16. The lawyers asked Judge Hittner to move Mr. Stanford to the Houston jail in a request sealed from public view. The request was submitted three days before the jail fight.

“Because of the unique circumstances present in this case, it is appropriate to order Stanford” be transferred to the downtown prison “no later than Thursday, Oct. 1,” the judge said in the order.

Mr. Stanford has denied any wrongdoing in connection with 21 felony charges that he paid early investors “improbable if not impossible” returns by taking funds from later buyers of certificates of deposit at the Stanford International Bank, based in Antigua. He faces similar civil fraud charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Source: The New York Times