Billionaire R. Allen Stanford may not be going anywhere for a while.
The jailed accused fraudster — who last week was denied a request to be released, in which he cited symptoms of a nervous breakdown — is under investigation by the feds who suspect he bribed politicians or received special treatment from them after his alleged $7 billion Ponzi scheme came to light.
Part of the Justice Department’s investigation centers on an e-mail sent to the alleged huckster by Texas Republican Representative Pete Sessions on the day the feds announced fraud charges against Stanford, according to a report in the Miami Herald.
Contributions totaling more than $2 million made by Stanford to Sessions and other US lawmakers are also “part of the government’s inquiry,” the paper said. The donations are said to have been made by Stanford or members of his staff over the past decade.
The billionaire pleaded not guilty to charges he operated a $7 billion Ponzi scheme involving fraudulent certificates of deposit issued by his offshore banks in Antigua and Barbuda.
Since being jailed, Stanford has morphed from the tough guy who threatened to punch ABC’s Charlie Gibson into a crybaby who “is spiraling downhill,” according to a psychiatrist who evaluated him two months ago. He has endured two surgeries, lost 40 pounds, gotten beaten up by a cellmate, and has started taking heart and depression medication.
According to the Herald, on the day Stanford’s offices were raided, the financier received an e-mail from Sessions, chairman of the National Republican Congres- sional Committee, that read, “I love you and believe in you. If you want my ear/voice — e-mail.”
Stanford has spent $5 billion on lobbying since 2001, the same year he helped kill a bill that would have exposed the flow of million of dollars into his Antiguan bank accounts, the paper said.
Stanford is also said to have funded Caribbean trips for a group of US lawmakers known as the Caribbean Caucus that included Sessions and Democrats Gregory Meeks of New York and Donald Payne of New Jersey, according to the report.
Stanford is a citizen of both the US and Antigua, and the feds are concerned he would be a flight risk if let out on bail ahead of his January 2011 trial date.