Financial Advisor Mag (from Bloomberg): Lawyers for R. Allen Stanford, the Texas financier accused of a $7 billion Ponzi scheme, asked to delay a trial set to begin Jan. 24 for at least two years so they can prepare their defense.Stanford’s trial preparation suffered during the first nine months of this year because his previous lawyer “focused on attempting to obtain funds from the insurance provider” more than on the financier’s defense,” the lawyers, Ali Fazel and Richard Scardino, said yesterday in a court filing. “During this period of time, the accused determined that little progress was made toward actual trial preparation.”Fazel and Scardino were appointed as Stanford’s attorneys in October, after U.S. District Judge David Hittner in Houston declared the former billionaire indigent. They told Hittner in October that they would try to be ready for a January trial, which was then about 90 days away.
In requesting a delay yesterday, the lawyers said they won’t have enough time to properly analyze more than 5 million documents and dozens of potential witnesses before the current trial date. Read more…..
