HOUSTON (AP) — Texas financier R. Allen Stanford lied to investors and stole their hard-earned savings so he could live the lavish lifestyle of a billionaire, a prosecutor said Tuesday at his fraud trial.
Prosecutor Gregg Costa told jurors in Houston federal court that Stanford used investors’ money to buy homes and yachts and fund cricket matches.
“He treated depositors’ savings like it was his own personal piggy bank,” Costa said.
The prosecution says Stanford’s business empire was built on smoke and mirrors and he bilked investors out of more than $7 billion over 20 years as part of a massive Ponzi scheme centered on sales of certificates of deposit from an Antiguan bank he owned.
Stanford, who denies the claims and says his businesses were legitimate, is charged with 14 counts, including wire and mail fraud. H
A crowd gathers at Pixar Studios’ headquarters in Emeryville, California for The Intersection’s inaugural conference. Image: J. 
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