By: Scott Cohn
Senior Correspondent, CNBC
Federal prosecutors say accused Ponzi schemer R. Allen Stanford appears to be "faking" memory loss in order to avoid his criminal trial scheduled for next month.
The accusation comes in a court filing ahead of a hearing next week to determine if Stanford is competent to stand trial.
"Convincing, reliable evidence demonstrates that Stanford is faking memory loss," prosecutors say in the 20-page filing.
Stanford's attorneys say he has lost all memory of events preceding his assault in a federal detention facility in September, 2009. Following the assault, while still in federal custody, Stanford became addicted to prescription drugs.
Stanford was indicted in June of that year for allegedly running a $7 billion Ponzi scheme. In January of this year, a judge ruled him incompetent to stand trial and ordered him to undergo drug treatment and evaluation at the Bureau of Prisons medical center in Butner, NC.
That treatment ended last month, and doctors at the medical center declared Stanford competent. But doctors hired by the defense have claimed — and apparently continue to claim — that Stanford has "no independent recollection of personal life events or business dealings that predated the head trauma he sustained in the September 2009," according to the filing.
Stanford even indicated to prison doctors "feeling bad after being informed by his family that he was known as a 'womanizer'," according to the filing.
Stanford, 61, has been separated from his wife for years, and has fathered multiple children with mistresses he referred to as his "outside wives."
Prosecutors, citing doctors at the Butner medical center, say Stanford's claims of memory loss are not credible, since he had no trouble with memory immediately following the assault and only claimed amnesia much later.
As late as last December, according to the prison doctors, Stanford was able to recall specific experiences, including prior interactions with then-Congressman, now House Speaker John Boehner.
The filing says prison doctors testing Stanford's memory found he "either was not trying or was faking."
Defense attorneys have not yet responded to the prosecution's filing. It will be up to U.S. District Judge David Hittner to decide if Stanford is competent for trial. Hittner has scheduled a competency hearing for Tuesday in Houston.
Stanford faces 14 criminal counts in the alleged fraud. He has repeatedly denied wrongdoing
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