Texas cricket mogul pleads not guilty to fraud (AFP)

[Yahoo!_news]

AFP - Texan cricket mogul and billionaire financier Allen Stanford pleaded not guilty to 21 charges of multi-billion dollar fraud, money-laundering and obstruction.

Stanford appeared in a Houston court along with three of his four co-accused charged with running a decade-long investment scam allegedly out of the offices of the Stanford International Bank on the Caribbean island of Antigua.

Asked how he pled, Stanford, handcuffed and dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, said forcefully: "Not guilty." He could face up to 250 years if convicted on all charges.

Stanford, 59, had become a larger than life figure in Antigua, where his company was the largest employer and where he was even knighted in 2006 by the Caribbean island nation's governor-general.

Thursday's court appearance as he waited for his case to be heard was a humiliating climbdown for the flamboyant Texan, who sports the clipped mustache and Saville Row style of English aristocracy.

In a 57-page indictment, the US Department of Justice alleged the scam began in September 1999 and continued until about February 17 this year, attracting some 30,000 investors from across the world.

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There goes a good chunk of my money I suppose.



Houston