Cricket mogul Stanford to be stripped of knighthood over Ponzi scam.Byline: ANI London, Nov. 3 (ANI): Texan cricket tycoon Allen Stanford Allen Stanford[1], [2] is an American billionaire and philanthropist, and is well known as a sponsor of professional sports. He was awarded an honorary knighthood in 2006 by the government of Antigua and Barbuda. who is being investigated by the FBI for running a 7 billion dollar Ponzi scheme A fraudulent investment plan in which the investments of later investors are used to pay earlier investors, giving the appearance that the investments of the initial participants dramatically increase in value in a short amount of time. , will be stripped of his knighthood knighthood: see chivalry; courtly love; knight. in Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda (ăntē`gə, –gwə, bärbu`də), independent Commonwealth nation (2005 est. pop. 68,700), 171 sq mi (442 sq km), West Indies, in the Leeward Islands. . The Telegraph quoted Jacqui Quinn-Leandro, the chairman of the Caribbean country's National Honours Committee, as saying that the nation voted unanimously to revoke his title for "embarrassing the nation" by running the scheme out of his Antigua-based offshore bank. "It's not that we're saying he's guilty, but it's the honour that has been brought into disrepute dis·re·pute n. Damage to or loss of reputation. disrepute Noun a loss or lack of good reputation Noun 1. ," Quinn-Leandro added. Stanford is in jail in Texas awaiting charges for allegedly defrauding some 28,000 investors by selling them bogus certificates of deposits. tanford received his knighthood in 2006 from the governor general - the representative of the Queen in the country - and was widely known as "Sir Allen" in the Caribbean nation. It has been alleged that Stanford used the title's prestige to help lure investors to buy certificates of deposits from his offshore bank while promising rates of return that were consistently higher than most financial institutions. A group of investors has also filed a lawsuit against Antigua and Barbuda alleging that local authorities failed to adequately onitor Stanford International Bank Ltd., and profited from the alleged fraud. (ANI) Copyright 2009 Asian News International The Asian News International (ANI) agency provides multimedia news to China and 50 bureaus in India. It covers virtually all of South Asia since its foundation and presently claims, on its official website, to be the leading South Asia-wide news agency. (ANI) - All Rights Reserved. Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
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