Stanford asks for new trial

Antigua: Allen Stanford, the one-time Caribbean banking tycoon found guilty of leading a $7 billion investment fraud through his Antiguan bank, asked a US judge for a new trial, claiming the original proceeding was unfair, the Antigua Observer reported today.

A federal court jury in Houston on March 6 decided Stanford was guilty of 13 criminal counts including wire fraud, mail fraud and obstruction of a US Securities and Exchange Commission probe. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 14, the Observer said.

Stanford’s lawyers, in a 71-page filing with US District Judge, David Hittner, who presided over the case, said pre-trial publicity tainted the jury and that mid-trial publicity — including press bulletins sent from the courtroom — perpetuated that taint.

“This court failed to sequester the jury and permitted the news media to occupy the courtroom during trial and permitted the media to ‘tweet’ throughout the trial,” Stanford said in a filing late yesterday, referring to Twitter Inc’s platform for disseminating 140-character messages via the Internet, the Observer stated.