An $8 Billion Scandal Goes A Long Way

摘要

After years of hobnobbing with international sports stars, Sir Allen Stanford, a financier accused by American authorities of an $8 billion fraud, now seems short of friends. But Lester Bird, Antigua & Barbuda's opposition leader and former prime minister, still has kind words. "Stanford has done a lot for this country," he told the local Daily Observer, calling Sir Allen's indictment "spurious".rnSir Allen's businesses dominate the Caribbean country of just 85,000 people. Besides his Stanford International Bank-at the centre of the alleged fraud-and the smaller Bank of Antigua, he owns a property company, two restaurants, a cricket ground and the Antigua Sun newspaper. On February 20th, the day after America's fbi found Sir Allen near Washington, dc, and took his passport, Antiguan regulators and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank seized his financial interests in Antigua.