Client_News

Houston Chronicle:

Nearly three years after former Houston billionaire R. Allen Stanford's arrest, investors who lost money in an alleged $7 billion Ponzi scheme still wait for resolution: a trial, restitution, some sign of justice.

"How much longer do we have to deal with this?" wonders Roxanne Short, who hopes to recover at least some of a $253,000 nest egg invested with Houston-based Stanford Financial Group. "My husband says it's a pipe dream. We're never going to get anything back. If we do, we'll be dead."

The case is scheduled for another step Tuesday, when Stanford, 61, is scheduled to appear in Houston federal court for a hearing to determine if he is competent to stand trial.

That will be the latest link in a long and complex chain that includes repeated changes in Stanford's legal representation, and a jailhouse fight that resulted in drug dependency and possible brain damage.

Stanford is to stand trial next month on charges that he financed a lavish lifestyle and made risky, speculative investments using money clients thought they were investing in certificates of deposit issued by his bank in the Caribbean island nation of Antigua.

....

Now claims amnesia

He was returned to Houston in early November after being deemed him competent for trial.

Stanford claims to have no memory of events prior to his jailhouse injury, and his lawyers said in a filing last week that he is unable to assist in his defense.

....

The judge has sealed much of the case record and issued a gag order that bars attorneys from discussing anything not in the public record.

If Hittner rules that Stanford is unfit for trial, he could be committed for additional treatment, said Barry Sorrels, a criminal defense attorney in Dallas. The government must prove Stanford is competent, and that will depend in large part on the testimony of mental health experts, Sorrels said.

Criminal Defense Attorney Barry Sorrels in Houston Chronicle article

"It's a possibility that somebody could never be competent enough to stand trial; then the charges could just sit there or end up being dismissed," said Sorrels, who is not involved in the case. "But it's a challenge for someone to not be found competent, especially after they've received treatment."

Four others await trial

Defendants can have mental defects or brain injuries and still be competent to understand the proceedings against them and help in their defense, said Sorrels, who has won a case for a client judged not guilty by reason of insanity.

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http://www.chron.com/business/article/Investors-get-nowhere-as-Stanford-case-crawls-2409875.php

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