I have heard (but cannot confirm) that Stanford is due before the judge on 15th of this month for assessment, let's keep our fingers crossed that the judge can see through his tricks and deceit and this time the trial goes ahead in January.
Here is the latest report:
Source: By Laurel Brubaker Calkins
R. Allen Stanford, the indicted Texas financier, was transferred out of a prison hospital where he spent almost nine months being treated for a drug dependency acquired in jail and lingering effects from an inmate beating.
Stanford, 61, has been imprisoned as a flight risk since his June 2009 indictment on charges that he defrauded investors through an alleged Ponzi scheme built on sales of certificates of deposit sold by his Antigua-based Stanford International Bank.
U.S. District Judge David Hittner in Houston ordered Stanford into a prison rehabilitation program for treatment of a dependence on anxiety drugs prescribed to him in prison and for evaluation of effects from a head injury he received in a jailhouse assault in September 2009.
Stanford was treated at the hospital unit at the Federal Detention Center in Butner, North Carolina, since February. He is now in the federal prison transfer facility in Oklahoma City, according to the bureau’s website. He is being moved within days to the federal facility in Houston where he was previously locked up, according to a person familiar with the matter who declined to be identified because the judge barred people involved in the case from discussing it publicly.
His trial, which was originally scheduled for January 2011, hasn’t yet been rescheduled.
Stanford’s criminal-defense attorney, Ali Fazel, declined to comment on his client’s current location or mental state, citing Hittner’s order against publicly discussing some aspects of the case.
‘Back in Houston’
“Once he’s back in Houston, the next thing would be either a hearing or some sort of agreement between the parties that he is competent to stand trial,” Fazel said in a phone interview yesterday. “The judge has to find him competent” before a trial date can be set, Fazel said.
A lawyer representing Stanford in a related civil suit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had said Stanford should remain in the North Carolina facility through at least the end of January.
“Mr. Stanford still suffers from long-term and short-term memory loss as a result of his medical treatment,” Stephen Cochell, the civil attorney, said in a Sept. 27 filing in federal court in Dallas.
Cochell, in a phone interview yesterday, said he wasn’t notified of Stanford’s transfer from the North Carolina hospital unit or given access to the most recent reports by the prison’s doctors.
“I assume his doctors have submitted a supplemental report,” Cochell said. “I’ll get a chance to talk to him when he comes back.”
Showing posts with label rehab. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rehab. Show all posts
Thursday, 10 November 2011
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Allen Stanford Completes Drug Treatment?
Source: Scott Cohn (CNBC)
Accused Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford has been moved from the Bureau of Prisons medical center in North Carolina where he has been undergoing drug rehabilitation treatment since early this year, CNBC has learned.
That could be a signal that Stanford has completed his treatment, and may be ready to stand trial. Stanford, 61, faces 14 criminal counts in an alleged $7 billion Ponzi scheme. He has been held without bail since his indictment in 2009, but his trial was delayed after he became addicted to prescription drugs while in custody, and was ruled incompetent to stand trial.
His trial is currently scheduled for January, but it is unclear whether he would be ready for a trial by then. Stanford’s court-appointed attorney, Ali Fazel, was not immediately available for comment. Earlier this week, Fazel declined to discuss the timing of a trial, citing a court-imposed gag order in the case.
Accused Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford has been moved from the Bureau of Prisons medical center in North Carolina where he has been undergoing drug rehabilitation treatment since early this year, CNBC has learned.
That could be a signal that Stanford has completed his treatment, and may be ready to stand trial. Stanford, 61, faces 14 criminal counts in an alleged $7 billion Ponzi scheme. He has been held without bail since his indictment in 2009, but his trial was delayed after he became addicted to prescription drugs while in custody, and was ruled incompetent to stand trial.
His trial is currently scheduled for January, but it is unclear whether he would be ready for a trial by then. Stanford’s court-appointed attorney, Ali Fazel, was not immediately available for comment. Earlier this week, Fazel declined to discuss the timing of a trial, citing a court-imposed gag order in the case.
Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Allen Stanford’s Criminal Trial Delayed to January While He’s in Treatment
Source:Bloomberg
Indicted financier R. Allen Stanford’s criminal trial was postponed to January from September so he can complete rehabilitation treatment for dependence on anti-anxiety drugs prescribed by prison doctors.
U.S. District Judge David Hittner in Houston said doctors treating Stanford said that it will take him as long as four more months to kick his dependence on anti-anxiety drugs prescribed after he was severely beaten by another inmate in September 2009.
Hittner found Stanford incompetent to assist in his own defense in January after three psychiatrists testified the former billionaire’s mental capacities were diminished from over-medication and lingering head injuries suffered in the prison fight.
Stanford was moved in February from a Houston jail to the federal medical center at the Butner, North Carolina, prison complex, on the expectation his rehabilitation would take as long as four months. Last month, Hittner scheduled the Stanford Group Co. founder for trial in September based on his expected return to Houston this month.
“However, the court now finds it has no alternative but to grant FMC’s request for an additional four months to continue treating Stanford,’’ Hittner said in a ruling handed down today. “Assuming FMC needs the entire four months to treat Stanford, the court now sets Stanford’s jury trial to commence January 2012.’’
Hittner said if Stanford recovers more quickly and returns to Houston sooner than expected, his trial may be moved up again.
Stanford Denies Wrongdoing
Stanford, 61, denies all wrongdoing in connection with civil and criminal allegations he defrauded investors of more than $7 billion through allegedly bogus certificates of deposit issued by Antigua-based Stanford International Bank Ltd.
Stanford has been incarcerated as a flight risk since his indictment and arrest in June 2009.
Ali Fazel, a lawyer for Stanford, declined to comment on today’s order, citing a ruling by Hittner barring lawyers from publicly discussing the case.
Laura Sweeney, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, also declined to comment, citing the judge’s gag order.
The criminal case is U.S. v. Stanford, 09cr342, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas (Houston). The SEC case is Securities and Exchange Commission v. Stanford International Bank, 09cv298, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas (Dallas).
Indicted financier R. Allen Stanford’s criminal trial was postponed to January from September so he can complete rehabilitation treatment for dependence on anti-anxiety drugs prescribed by prison doctors.
U.S. District Judge David Hittner in Houston said doctors treating Stanford said that it will take him as long as four more months to kick his dependence on anti-anxiety drugs prescribed after he was severely beaten by another inmate in September 2009.
Hittner found Stanford incompetent to assist in his own defense in January after three psychiatrists testified the former billionaire’s mental capacities were diminished from over-medication and lingering head injuries suffered in the prison fight.
Stanford was moved in February from a Houston jail to the federal medical center at the Butner, North Carolina, prison complex, on the expectation his rehabilitation would take as long as four months. Last month, Hittner scheduled the Stanford Group Co. founder for trial in September based on his expected return to Houston this month.
“However, the court now finds it has no alternative but to grant FMC’s request for an additional four months to continue treating Stanford,’’ Hittner said in a ruling handed down today. “Assuming FMC needs the entire four months to treat Stanford, the court now sets Stanford’s jury trial to commence January 2012.’’
Hittner said if Stanford recovers more quickly and returns to Houston sooner than expected, his trial may be moved up again.
Stanford Denies Wrongdoing
Stanford, 61, denies all wrongdoing in connection with civil and criminal allegations he defrauded investors of more than $7 billion through allegedly bogus certificates of deposit issued by Antigua-based Stanford International Bank Ltd.
Stanford has been incarcerated as a flight risk since his indictment and arrest in June 2009.
Ali Fazel, a lawyer for Stanford, declined to comment on today’s order, citing a ruling by Hittner barring lawyers from publicly discussing the case.
Laura Sweeney, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, also declined to comment, citing the judge’s gag order.
The criminal case is U.S. v. Stanford, 09cr342, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas (Houston). The SEC case is Securities and Exchange Commission v. Stanford International Bank, 09cv298, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas (Dallas).
Thursday, 20 January 2011
Allen Stanford's Lawyers Say Alleged Ponzi Schemer Needs Luxury Rehab
Lawyers for Allen Stanford say the billionaire allegedly Ponzi schemer is addicted to an anti-anxiety medication and needs to be released from prison and sent to an upscale rehabilitation facility in Houston, Texas.
Stanford, a psychiatrist working for his legal team said in court filings, has a traumatic brain injury; is overmedicated on and addicted to Klonopin; has dementia caused by an assault that caused traumatic brain injury; and has major depressive disorder.
The psychiatrist wants him to stay at the Memorial Hermann Hospital Prevention and Recovery Center. A website for that center notes that the center is "equipped with a greenhouse and basketball pavilion" and a virtual tour shows patients playing billiards in a recreation room.
In a Jan. 11 filing, a lawyer for Stanford said that the defense agrees that the accused needs to be inpatient for the first 30 days, but then may complete treatment on an outpatient basis.
"Such placement will comply with the mandates of due process, provide the appropriate medical treatment necessary for rehabilitation, and allow access to his attorneys and family members," Ali R. Fazel argued. "As discussed in cases cited above placement in a Federal Medical Center, prison, will undermine the rehabilitative process and lengthen the recovery period."
The lawyer argued that the federal prison never should have given Stanford the medication he's become addicted to and that it was not a suitable facility for Stanford's recovery.
"The Federal Detention Center should never have prescribed Klonopin to Mr. Stanford, as he does not suffer from an anxiety or panic disorder, nor does he suffer from epileptic seizures," Fazel argued.
"Prescription of this medication created medical and mental problems that Mr. Stanford did not have prior to being incarcerated," Fazel said. "The side effects of Klonopin are well known and available to anyone with internet capability."
Earlier this month, a federal judge indefinitely delayed Stanford's trial, which had been set to begin on Jan. 24.
Now Stanford's lawyers and the federal prosecutors working on the case are awaiting a judge's decision on whether he should be allowed to recover from his additions so he is fully capable of defending himself in court.
Three psychiatrists, including one hired by the government, said that Stanford "suffers from a mental disease or defect that presently deprives him of the ability to effectively assist his attorneys in preparing for trial, or to testify on his own behalf at trial," Fazel said.
Justice Department lawyers had earlier argued that Stanford's lawyers were simply trying to get a "lengthy continuance to further what appears to be his only goal in this case: obtaining pretrial release."
Stanford, a psychiatrist working for his legal team said in court filings, has a traumatic brain injury; is overmedicated on and addicted to Klonopin; has dementia caused by an assault that caused traumatic brain injury; and has major depressive disorder.
The psychiatrist wants him to stay at the Memorial Hermann Hospital Prevention and Recovery Center. A website for that center notes that the center is "equipped with a greenhouse and basketball pavilion" and a virtual tour shows patients playing billiards in a recreation room.
In a Jan. 11 filing, a lawyer for Stanford said that the defense agrees that the accused needs to be inpatient for the first 30 days, but then may complete treatment on an outpatient basis.
"Such placement will comply with the mandates of due process, provide the appropriate medical treatment necessary for rehabilitation, and allow access to his attorneys and family members," Ali R. Fazel argued. "As discussed in cases cited above placement in a Federal Medical Center, prison, will undermine the rehabilitative process and lengthen the recovery period."
The lawyer argued that the federal prison never should have given Stanford the medication he's become addicted to and that it was not a suitable facility for Stanford's recovery.
"The Federal Detention Center should never have prescribed Klonopin to Mr. Stanford, as he does not suffer from an anxiety or panic disorder, nor does he suffer from epileptic seizures," Fazel argued.
"Prescription of this medication created medical and mental problems that Mr. Stanford did not have prior to being incarcerated," Fazel said. "The side effects of Klonopin are well known and available to anyone with internet capability."
Earlier this month, a federal judge indefinitely delayed Stanford's trial, which had been set to begin on Jan. 24.
Now Stanford's lawyers and the federal prosecutors working on the case are awaiting a judge's decision on whether he should be allowed to recover from his additions so he is fully capable of defending himself in court.
Three psychiatrists, including one hired by the government, said that Stanford "suffers from a mental disease or defect that presently deprives him of the ability to effectively assist his attorneys in preparing for trial, or to testify on his own behalf at trial," Fazel said.
Justice Department lawyers had earlier argued that Stanford's lawyers were simply trying to get a "lengthy continuance to further what appears to be his only goal in this case: obtaining pretrial release."