Stanford was once considered one of the richest men in the US, with an estimated net worth of more than £1.3 billion
The final instalment of Sky Documentaries’ three-part documentary series looking at the exploits of fraudster Allen Stanford airs tonight (9 January).
The Man Who Bought Cricket has been investigating the unbelievable story of Stanford, who conned his way into billions of dollars and used his fortune to lure the English cricket team to a ‘winner takes all’ one-off game against the West Indies.
But who is he, and where is he now?
Here is everything you need to know about him.
Who is Allen Stanford?
Stanford, now 71, was jailed by a judge in Houston, Texas, in 2012, after being convicted of orchestrating one of the largest Ponzi schemes in US history.
A Ponzi scheme is a fraud that pays returns to its investors from their own money or the money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from profit earned by the individual or organisation running the operation.
Stanford was once considered one of the richest men in the US, with an estimated net worth of more than $2 billion (£1.3 billion), despite growing up in rural Texas and having no prior experience in banking.
His financial empire stretched from the US to Latin America and the Caribbean. But after his arrest, all of his assets were seized and he had to rely on court-appointed lawyers to defend him.
Calling Stanford arrogant and…
