Stanford: officially a convicted felon (AP) Investors who lost money through R. Allen Stanford's $7 billion international financial scheme expressed relief at today's jury verdict finding the former Caribbean financier guilty on 13 of 14 criminal counts.
Jurors appeared to be struggling to reach a verdict Monday, but U.S.
District Judge David Hittner urged them to keep trying. The decision was reached just before lunch today.
Stanford showed little reaction as the verdict was read, but at one point turned in the direction of his mother and mouthed the word's "it will be OK."
Meanwhile, the more than 22,000 investors worldwide who lost money in Stanford's Ponzi scheme welcomed the verdict. Here are some of their
comments:
I'm absolutely ecstatic. This has been a long time coming, and it gives all of the victims a small amount of satisfaction. He deserves life in prison.
He has sentenced thousands of victims to a life of hardship and poverty, and I just hope that the U.S. courts remember that.
- Kate Burnell-Freeman of Antigua, co-founder of the Stanford International Victims Group
I feel relieved and happy. There is justice in this world. This man ruined thousands of lives by stealing retirement funds that we all worked very hard for. He lied to us and spent our money on his lavish lifestyle. My family and I have suffered through a nightmare of [going from] being financially sound to broke.
- Joseph Becker
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