Fallen financier R. Allen Stanford asked an appeals court Monday to free him on bail, saying that prosecutors misled a Houston trial judge and that the judge made numerous false assumptions about how serious a flight risk Stanford would be. In a 46-page memorandum with about 600 pages of exhibits, Houston lawyer Dick DeGuerin told the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Senior U.S. District Judge David Hittner made unsubstantiated findings about Stanford’s residence, family ties to Houston, passports, access to money and ability to travel.
The memo to the appellate judges states that Hittner ignored evidence presented by Stanford and refused him a hearing on new evidence. It also argues that Stanford’s pre-trial incarceration will harm his ability to prepare for his complicated trial.
The papers state that even the psychologist at the Montgomery County detention center where Stanford is being held concluded after several sessions with Stanford that he is not a flight risk.
At the end of June, Hittner ruled Stanford must remain behind bars until his trial, revoking a magistrate’s order that granted his release on $500,000 bail with a GPS monitor and other conditions. The judge found that Stanford’s primary residence for the last 15 years was the Caribbean island of Antigua, that one of his passports is missing, that his family ties to Houston are tenuous and that he has international financial resources.
DeGuerin’s filing Monday states that these assertions are false. He asked the appellate court to release Stanford on bail while it considers the matter. Prosecutors have a week to respond.
Stanford, 59, faces 21 counts of conspiracy, fraud, bribery and obstruction of justice. He and co-defendants are accused of bilking investors in a $7 billion fraud involving certificates of deposit issued by an Antiguan bank that was part of his fallen global empire, Houston-based Stanford Financial Group.
A Houston federal grand jury indicted Stanford and four others in the alleged scheme, including a former top Antiguan bank regulator. A sixth man was indicted in Miami on charges of destroying documents.
A separate criminal charge accuses James M. Davis, Stanford’s chief financial officer, of conspiracy and fraud. Davis has signed a plea agreement, is cooperating with prosecutors and plans to plead guilty.
Though his U.S. co-defendants have been released on bond, prosecutors argued that Stanford is a flight risk since he has contacts all over the world, hasn’t lived in the U.S. for years and has access to money from others.
In a related matter, Davis’ Dallas lawyer, David Finn, filed an unopposed motion to move Davis’ guilty plea date to Aug. 18 from Aug. 6. On the day Davis enters his agreed guilty plea, Stanford investors will have a chance to comment on it.
Source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6538422.html
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