Stanford Jury to Weigh $300 Million Seizure After Guilty Verdict
R. Allen Stanford’s jury, a day after finding the Texas financier guilty of leading a $7 billion international fraud, heard evidence on federal prosecutors’ request that he forfeit $330 million in assets.
The jury of eight men and four women yesterday convicted Stanford on 13 of 14 charges including four wire fraud counts and five mail fraud counts carrying maximum penalties of 20 years in prison. No sentencing date has been set.
The forfeiture trial started yesterday about 2 1/2 hours after jurors returned their guilty verdict. They deliberated for about 15 minutes today after hearing closing arguments from both sides and will resume their consideration of the evidence tomorrow.
“Three hundred, thirty million dollars, that’s what’s at stake here today, $330 million obtained through the sale of certificates of deposits,” Justice Department lawyer Andrew Warren told jurors as he summarized evidence they were shown in the second proceeding.
US military fails to catch two-thirds of drug boats, general says
Despite intensified counter-narcotics efforts over the last five years, the military's ability to stop drug smuggling into the U.S. from Latin America has declined as planes and ships have been diverted to combat operations around the globe, according to a senior military officer.
As a result, the Navy and Coast Guard are stopping one of three suspected seaborne drug shipments headed to American shores, Gen. Douglas Fraser, commander of the U.S. Southern Command, told reporters Wednesday.
The Navy has four frigates on patrol in the Caribbean and along the Pacific coast of Central America — one more than usual — as the U.S. works with regional allies in an anti-drug operation aimed at pushing smugglers further offshore.
But other military craft used to track or interdict drug shipments have been diverted to operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the NATO-led air campaign last year in Libya, the coast of Somalia to hunt pirates and the Persian Gulf to beef up the Navy's presence as tensions build with Iran.
He was the sole survivor of 14 Cubans, including his mother, whose boat capsized as they fled the communist island. Once in the US, he was released to his and more »
