On January 30, a federal judge ended the 16-year lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission concerning Allen Stanford's $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme. The judge, Chief Judge David Godbey of the Dallas federal court, ordered Stanford and two former colleagues to pay fines that are unlikely to be collected.
Stanford was imposed a $5.9 billion civil fine, James Davis, the former chief financial officer of Stanford Financial Group, was ordered to pay $17.66 million, which includes a $5 million fine, and Gilberto Lopez, the former chief accounting officer, was directed to pay $3.42 million for their involvement in the fraud.
Stanford was found guilty in 2012 of defrauding approximately 18,000 investors by selling fake high-yielding certificates of deposit through his Antigua-based Stanford International Bank. The judge stated that payments should be made promptly and closed the case.
Despite being declared a billionaire in 2010, Stanford, who is now 74, will not be eligible for release from prison until 2103. Davis, a witness in Stanford's trial, was sentenced to five years in prison in 2013, while Lopez received a 20-year sentence in a separate conviction the same year.
Ralph Janvey, the court-appointed receiver, has collected over $2.5 billion for fraud victims, with $1.2 billion coming from Toronto-Dominion Bank, satisfying debts owed by various Stanford entities. The lawsuit was filed by the SEC in February 2009, following the arrest of Bernard Madoff for his involvement in a larger Ponzi scheme.