Cricket mogul refuses to assist

Washington - Cricket mogul and financier Allen Stanford is refusing to cooperate with authorities investigating his role in an alleged multibillion-dollar fraud, court documents showed on Wednesday.

The Texas magnate who faces civil charges linked to luring investors into $9.2bn in securities under fraudulent pretenses, is using his constitutional guarantee against self-incrimination.

"I hereby assert my privilege against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and decline to testify or provide an accounting, and will continue to decline to testify, provide an accounting or produce any documents" in the case, Stanford said in a court filing.

The statement noted that Stanford had been served with a summons and other court orders related to the complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission ahead of a hearing set for Thursday in federal court in Dallas, Texas.

Stanford, a wealthy cricket impresario, has not faced criminal charges but the chief investment officer of his financial group, Laura Pendergest-Holt, was arrested last month and charged with obstructing an investigation.

Analysts say Stanford could soon face criminal charges too if the fraud allegations laid out by securities regulators prove true.

Several governments have seized Stanford banks and frozen their assets with concern mounting that the global reach of the billionaire's banking operations could complicate the return of an estimated $50bn in assets belonging to an estimated 50 000 clients in 140 countries.

The case is the highest-profile alleged fraud scheme since the SEC charged Wall Street financier Bernard Madoff with carrying out a $50bn Ponzi scheme in December.

Stanford was behind the high-profile Stanford Super Series Twenty20 competition.

On February 17, the SEC accused Stanford of fraud in selling $9.2bn in securities by promising "improbable and unsubstantiated" returns.

- AFP