HE’S TEXAS TOAST
Tears and tantrums unleashed on a national TV audience aren’t winning accused Ponzi swindler Allen Stanford much sympathy to clear his name.
In an interview taped by ABC News, which aired last evening on “World News Tonight,” the whiny Texan set out to show his innocence against government claims he’s bilked $8 billion from hundreds of investors, including high-profile sports stars.
Instead, Stanford flipped out, calling the case “Baloney! Baloney!” while lapsing into tears and then threatening to punch his interviewer in the mouth.
Among his hand-wringing complaints: that he’s broke after being frozen out of his personal fortune and been forced to submit to humiliating security searches as regular air travelers do after having his six private jets confiscated.
“They make you take your shoes off and everything, it’s terrible,” he said.
Stanford’s erratic interview reveals how badly the 59-year-old is coping with pressures from a likely grand jury indictment in two weeks, as well as a freeze of his $2.2 billion fortune and an expected back-tax bill of $226.6 million.
Stanford claims he has no money to hire lawyers, and has been wrongly accused because he’s a popular target selected to be some prosecutor’s “moose head on the wall.”
The Securities and Exchange Commission accused Sanford and two colleagues seven weeks ago of running their scheme through a network of entities linked to his off-shore bank in Antigua, where island officials granted Stanford a knighthood.
The SEC claims Stanford personally skimmed $1.6 billion in personal loans from his companies.
But he said he’s being targeted for another reason: “I’m the maverick rich Texan where they can put the moose head on the wall. And that’s the only reason they went after me.”
“I would die and go to hell if it’s a Ponzi scheme.”
When asked if he could be compared with admitted Ponzi swindler Bernie Madoff, Stanford erupted.
“Bullsh–! That’s bullsh–! It makes be madder than hell and it touches the core of my soul.”
He also denied law enforcement reports that he’s being investigated for laundering money for a Mexican drug cartel.
“If you say it to my face again, I will punch you in the mouth,” Stanford said.
But he quickly backed off the threat, saying, “No, I’m not going to punch you in the mouth. But I’m just saying that’s an absolutely, absolutely ludicrous thing to say.”
He acknowledged that among his bank’s customers he “cannot be sure, a hundred percent sure, that every customer you have is clean.”
Indeed, he also admitted that the government seized $3 million in drug money from his bank in 1999, but noted other banks were also involved.
Meanwhile, ABC News was reporting that Vijay Singh continues to stand by Stanford, who sponsors the pro golfer and was seen this past weekend wearing a Stanford cap during a tournament in Houston. Singh said he supports Stanford “at the moment.”
