Judge orders Allen Stanford lawyers to stay on

(Reuters) – A federal judge in Houston said a team of  attorneys representing Allen Stanford, who is accused of running  a $7 billion Ponzi scheme, must stay on the case despite their  request to withdraw.
U.S. District Judge David Hittner wrote that Stanford’s  attorneys have been on the case long enough to prepare for  Stanford’s criminal trial, which will proceed as planned with  jury selection beginning on Jan. 23.
“We are preparing for trial as best we can,” Ali Fazel,  Stanford’s attorney said.
Earlier this week, Fazel and his partner Robert Scardino  asked to be taken off the case, citing time and budgetary  constraints. The attorneys were appointed by the court after  Hittner declared Stanford indigent.
Stanford also spent more than eight months in a North  Carolina prison hospital last year in treatment for an addiction  to an anti-anxiety medication after he was ruled unable to  assist in his defense.
Stanford, now back in jail in Houston, was declared fit for  trial on Dec. 22.
In a separate order, the judge also refused to dismiss the  indictment against Stanford after his attorneys argued it  violated the former Texas financier’s rights under the U.S.  Constitution.
Stanford, 61, is accused of bilking investors with  fraudulent certificates of deposit issued by his offshore bank  in Antigua. He has denied any wrongdoing.
The case is USA v. Stanford et al, U.S. District Court for  the Southern District of Texas, No. 09-00342.