Stanford being moved from site of Texas jail fight

HOUSTON — Texas financier R. Allen Stanford will be moved from the lockup where he got into a jail fight that resulted in him being hospitalized for a concussion.

But U.S. District Judge David Hittner’s order, issued Friday and made public Monday, doesn’t seem to be connected to Stanford’s Thursday fight with another inmate.

Hittner ordered Stanford, accused of running a $7 billion Ponzi scheme, be moved from the Joe Corley Detention Facility in Conroe, north of Houston, to the Federal Detention Center in downtown Houston.

The judge granted a request, filed last week before the fight, by Stanford’s attorneys that the Corley facility interfered with their ability to meet with their client and review the large number of records in the case.

“The Court recognizes the extraordinary nature and complexity of this case, the extent and gravity of the charges levied against Stanford, the hundreds of records involved, and the enormous amount of time no doubt necessary to review those documents and adequately prepare a defense,” Hittner wrote.

Hittner ordered that Stanford be moved no later than Thursday.

Kent Schaffer, one of Stanford’s court-appointed attorneys, did not immediately return a telephone call Monday.

Earlier Monday, Schaffer told The Associated Press that his client got “a concussion, two black eyes, a broken nose” as a result of the fight. Schaffer says Stanford was returned to the lockup Sunday afternoon.

Stanford, 59, has been in the Corley facility since he was indicted in June on 21 counts, including wire and mail fraud. He has been jailed without bond; Hittner considers him a flight risk.

Stanford and other executives of the now defunct Houston-based Stanford Financial Group are accused of orchestrating a massive Ponzi scheme by advising clients to invest more than $7 billion in certificates of deposit from the Stanford International Bank on the Caribbean island of Antigua.

Investors were promised their investments were safe and were scrutinized by Antigua’s bank regulator and an independent auditor.

But authorities say Stanford and the indicted executives fabricated the bank’s balance sheets, bribed Antiguan regulators and misused investors’ money to pay for his lavish lifestyle.

Stanford and three former company executives have pleaded not guilty.

Another former executive, James M. Davis, has pleaded guilty in the case and is cooperating with prosecutors.

Stanford’s next court hearing is Oct. 14.