Allen Stanford incompetent for trial -US judge

Allen Stanford

SAN FRANCISCO, (Reuters) – Financier Allen Stanford  is incompetent to stand trial at this time over accusations  that he led a $7 billion fraud, a U.S. judge in Texas ruled yesterday.

Stanford, who had been accustomed to jetting around the  globe in private aircraft, was indicted in 2009 on 21 counts  including securities fraud and money laundering. U.S.  prosecutors accuse him of creating false accounting records,  lying to investors and bribing a regulatory official in  Antigua.

Stanford has pleaded not guilty and was previously  scheduled to begin trial this week. But that was postponed amid