HOUSTON (AP) - Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford has pleaded
not guilty to charges he swindled investors out of $7 billion as
part of a massive investment scam.
Stanford entered his plea during his arraignment in federal
court in Houston on Thursday. The financier was indicted last week
by a grand jury on charges that his international banking empire
was really just a colossal Ponzi scheme.
Laura Pendergest-Holt, Gilberto Lopez and Mark Kuhrt, three
Stanford Financial Group executives who were indicted along with
their former boss, also entered not guilty pleas during the court
hearing.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Frances Stacy's decision on whether to
grant a bond for Stanford was expected later in the day. Stanford
has been in federal custody since he was arrested in Virginia on
June 18.