The Stanford Timeline

1985 Robert Allen Stanford starts Guardian International Bank on the Caribbean island of Montserrat with $6 million in seed money from an unknown source.

Mid-1990s Stanford is asked by government officials in Montserrat to leave the country. He relocates the bank to Antigua and names it Stanford International Bank.

1996 Jay Comeaux, Alvaro Trullenque and their investment team leave Merrill Lynch with the Stanford account to start Stanford Group Company in City Plaza.

1998 Stanford begins selling its disputed certificates of deposit.

1999 Stanford Group Company receives a negative annual supervisory review in which the Securities and Exchange Commission finds that some advisers' actions are inconsistent with the investors' intentions.

1999 The Justice Department tells the SEC to stand down in an investigation on Stanford.

2001 The first known complaint regarding Stanford's referral fees is filed with the SEC.

2002 The first known letter from a Stanford insider in Antigua is sent to the SEC detailing the alleged Ponzi scheme.

2003 A complaint is filed with the National Association of Securities Dealers in regards to misleading materials for the CDs.

2006 Regulators require that Stanford modify its CD Disclosure Statement.

2007 NASD fines Stanford $20,000 for failing to "establish and maintain a supervisory system reasonably designed to achieve compliance with applicable securities laws." Later, the Financial Industry Regulatory Agency fines Stanford $10,000 for distributing literature that "failed to disclose a conflict of interest" between advisers and the bank and also for a failure to present "fair and balanced treatment of the risks and potential benefits of a CD investment."

2008 FINRA fines the Stanford Group Company $10,000 for a failure to properly report customer transactions.

2008 FINRA fines Stanford Group $30,000 for a failure to disclose adviser compensation in published research reports.

2008 Alex Dalmady's Duck Tales blog details Stanford's possible Ponzi scheme.

February 2009 Federal regulators storm the Houston offices of Stanford Financial Group and issue a freeze on all of the companies and their associated assets.

March 2009 Ten Louisiana investors who lost millions sue their financial advisers, arguing that the men misrepresented the investment products they sold.

June 2009 Stanford and six others are indicted and jailed on charges the international banking empire was really just a $7 billion Ponzi scheme built on lies, bluster and bribery. If convicted of all charges in the 21-count indictment, Stanford could face as much as 250 years in prison.

July 2009 Stanford and his co-defendants ask for the delay of an August trial, citing the complexity of the case; the government does not oppose the request.

January 2011 A federal judge again postpones the criminal trial because Stanford needs to be weaned off an anti-anxiety drug prescribed for him in prison and undergo more tests to determine his competency. His lawyers seek a two-year delay.

February 2011 Stanford files a lawsuit seeking $7.2 billion in damages, claiming that U.S. prosecutors "undertook illegal tactics" in their investigation. He contends that the federal government used more than $51 million of his assets to pursue the cases against him. One month later, he drops the allegations.

May 2011 The U.S. Department of Justice issues a superceding indictment against Stanford, who now faces a total of 14 counts on conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy to obstruct an SEC investigation, obstruction of an SEC investigation and conspiracy to commit money laundering. U.S. District Judge David Hittner signs an order setting Stanford's trial for Sept. 12.