HOUSTON, (Reuters) – The Libyan government had invested $500 million of its cash reserves with accused swindler Allen Stanford’s firm as of late 2008, a court filing showed yesterday.
And Stanford and Andrea Stoelker, his girlfriend, flew to Tripoli on Jan. 25, 2009 because Libya was considering increasing the amount it had invested with him, according to a court document.
Stanford met with several officials, including Mohamed Layas, chief executive officer of the Libyan Investment Authority, the filing said.
A representative from the Libyan embassy in Washington was not immediately available to comment. It was not clear whether the investment was recouped before the U.S. government shuttered Stanford’s network of financial firms.
U.S. prosecutors cited the 2009 trip to Libya at a day-long detention hearing before a federal judge in Houston on June 29 as evidence that Stanford was a flight risk, but Stanford’s attorney said it was a regular business trip.
The Texas financier, who faces criminal and civil charges related to a $7 billion fraud, was ordered by U.S. District Judge David Hittner to remain in custody until his trial last week.
Dick DeGuerin, Stanford’s lawyer, is fighting that order and asked the judge to reconsider it in the court filing yesterday.
