Jurors in the recent trial of convicted Texas financier Allen Stanford say his arrogance and greed as well as compelling evidence by his former chief financial officer were primarily responsible for his conviction and the forfeiture of US$330 million in assets.
The eight men and four women jury on March 6 found Stanford guilty on 13 of 14 counts.
Two days later, the same jury decided that Stanford must forfeit US$330 million (BD$ 644.3 million) in assets in 29 bank accounts seized by the United States government.
Stanford was convicted of masterminding a “massive” US$7 billion (US$ 13.67 billion) Ponzi scheme by bilking tens of thousands of investors of high-yield certificates of deposit at his Antiguan-based Stanford International Bank (SIB).
“The jury returned unanimous verdicts, and we think they speak for themselves,” Jury foreman John Wojciak, an environmental engineer, told reporters.
Bruce Forrest, a 47, an alternate juror and optician, said prosecutors presented “overwhelming evidence” that resulted in Stanford’s conviction.
He said the testimony of James Davis, Stanford’s ex-finance chief, was the most compelling.
Davis, who made a plea deal with the United States government, testified against his former boss for five days during the six-week trial.Forrest also recalled testimony from Sohil Merchant, Stanford’s information technology chief, who testified to having to repeatedly fly in laptops to replace ones the tycoon had smashed against walls or dropped into water.
“There’s an arrogance that goes with that,” Forrest said, adding “and to find out he used other people’s money in order to accomplish all this. Along with arrogance comes greed”.
He, however, lamented that Stanford did not take the stand on his own behalf.
“He might regret that now,” Forrest said. (CMC)