Accused Swindler Stanford Makes Court Appearance

HOUSTON (AP) _ For months, billionaire R. Allen Stanford has denied allegations he swindled investors out of $7 billion.

The Texas financier is expected to have a chance Thursday to formally declare in court he is innocent of charges his international banking and financial empire was really just a massive Ponzi scheme.

Stanford, 58, and three executives from his now defunct Houston-based Stanford Financial Group are set to be arraigned in federal court, a week after a grand jury returned a 21-count indictment against them.

Also, U.S. Magistrate Judge Frances Stacy iss expected to decide if Stanford will be allowed to be free on bond pending his trial.

Stanford was arrested in Virginia on June 18 hours after he was indicted in Houston. He was returned to Texas on Tuesday and is being held in the Montgomery County Jail in Conroe, located just north of Houston, according to his attorney Dick DeGuerin.

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