Stanford Gets Jailed For 110 Years

Disgraced Texan financier and supposed cricket enthusiast, Allen Stanford has been sentenced for 110 years in jail for committing some of the biggest frauds in history. The American citizen has been convicted for having swindled several billions of rupees in a series of frauds. Having already spent three years in jail, the 62 year old had voluntarily surrendered to authorities in June 2009.

Having spent the 80s in the West Indian islands, Stanford created the 20/20 league there in 2006, and funded widely successful tournaments. In June 2008, Stanford and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) signed a deal for five Twenty20 internationals between England and a West Indies all-star XI, with a total prize fund of £12.27m (US$20 million) to be awarded to the team that won the Championship. It was the largest prize ever offered to a team for a single tournament. It finally ended up being just one match contested by England and a Stanford Superstars eleven consisting of West Indian players. The promised sum of US $1 million for each player of the winning side remained undelivered, and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) too did not receive payments to the tune of US $3.5 million.

The alliance with Stanford has been one of the major embarrassments for the English Board in the recent years. In that one off winner-takes-it-all match, he landed at the Lords outfield in his private helicopter and also created news by cozying up with English WAGs. The ECB severed ties with him as soon as the news of his frauds and subsequent indictment came into the news.