Supreme Court declines to review Stanford’s Ponzi scheme conviction News
Supreme Court declines to review Stanford’s Ponzi scheme conviction

The US Supreme Court [official website] on Monday denied certiorari [order list, PDF] in the case of Allen Stanford, a former financier convicted in 2012 of defrauding investors. Last October the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website] upheld [order, PDF] the 110-year prison sentence for the conviction on 13 out of 14 counts related to running a Ponzi scheme. Stanford had appealed based on 10 separate issues, including:

(1) that the district court lacked jurisdiction; (2) that the indictment was defective and was constructively amended at trial; (3) that the district court erred in denying his request for continuance; (4) that simultaneous civil and criminal proceedings constituted double jeopardy; (5) that authorities seized certain evidence in violation of the Fourth Amendment; (6) that the trial court erred in instructions to the jury; (7) that his sentence was based on improper enhancements; (8) that the district court was not impartial and showed favoritism to the government; (9) that cumulative error denied him a fair trial; and (10) that the government failed to provide exculpatory evidence.

All of these issues were rejected by the court of appeals. In denying certiorari, the Supreme Court leaves in place the appeals court ruling, which upheld the conviction and sentence. Federal prosecutors believe that Stanford defrauded [Reuters report] 30,000 investors over 20 years through his venture, Stanford International Bank.

This is the latest ruling in a line of legal developments related to Stanford’s Ponzi scheme. In February 2014 the Supreme Court ruled [JURIST report] that the victims of the Ponzi scheme were allowed to file a class action lawsuit. In August 2013 a federal judge in Florida dismissed [JURIST report] a lawsuit against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) [official website] over the agency’s alleged failure to report Stanford’s Ponzi scheme to the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) [official website]. Stanford was sentenced [JURIST report] in June 2012.