It has been revealed that billionaire and indicted fraudster Robert Allen Stanford racked up considerable gambling debts at a Las Vegas casino shortly before his financial empire came crashing down.
While Stanford sites in a Texas jail awaiting trial for perpetrating what the U.S. Justice Department has described as a $7 billion global investment scheme to defraud investors, another disgruntled creditor of Standford's has put up their arm wanting their cash back.
This time it isn't one of the many investors who were duped into funding the now defunct Stanford International Bank Ltd, but rather the Bellagio resort on the Las Vegas Strip. In a lawsuit filed by the casino this week, they allege Stanford racked up $258,480 in unpaid gambling markers between Jan. 15 and Jan. 22, just days before the SEC froze his assets.
While Stanford has yet to respond to the casino's claim, the evidence, in the form of markers, known as credit instruments evidencing a gambling debt under Nevada law are pretty cut and dried.
The news gives some insight as to where some of the billions of dollars lost by the fraudster went is offers cold comfort to investors in Stanford's Antigua bank.
Curiously, Standford's collapsed bank didn't deal with any of the many online gambling businesses in Antigua Barbuda as a matter of policy because Standford maintained his Southern Baptist religious beliefs precluded any association with such activities.
Photo courtesy AP/David J. Phillip
Subscribe to feed