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Sir Allen Stanford: how the small-town Texas boy evaded scrutiny to become a big-time 'fraudster'
The Telegraph ^ | 2/22/2009 | Andrew Alderson, Philip Sherwell in New York, and Patrick Sawer

Posted on 02/21/2009 3:51:34 PM PST by bruinbirdman

For a town of just 10,000 people, it is remarkable that Mexia - motto "a great place, no matter how you pronounce it" - should throw up two larger-than-life characters: Anna Nicole Smith and Sir Allen Stanford.

At first glance, Ms Smith and Sir Allen have little in common beyond their birthplace. The surgically enhanced former Playmate of the Year was the model, actress and sex symbol who died from a drug overdose in 2007, nine months before her 40th birthday.

Sir Allen, who has also been under the plastic surgeon's knife, is the flamboyant businessman turned cricket entrepreneur who last week left the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) ruing its involvement with him.

Yet both celebrities, despite coming from a town which owes its past prosperity to the Texas oil fields on which it sits, were determined from a young age to dig for gold: Ms Smith famously snared a billionaire husband 63 years her senior after meeting him at her strip club, while Sir Allen – if the allegations against him are proved – preferred to use gullible investors, US politicians and sporting icons to bring him fame and fortune.

On Friday, as the ECB sheepishly announced it had severed its ties with the 58-year-old banker following allegations that he carried out a $9.2 billion fraud, Sir Allen's fellow Texans were coming to terms with life in the spotlight.

His current lifestyle, which includes a $10 million Florida mansion and $100 million fleet of private jets, is a far cry from his roots in Mexia. Sir Allen started in the family insurance business in the mid-1970s as a salesman and book-keeper. In the early 1980s, he and his father bought Texan homes cheaply during an oil crash and the sold them for a profit when the

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: allenstanford; corruption; stanford

1 posted on 02/21/2009 3:51:34 PM PST by bruinbirdman
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To: bruinbirdman
Sir Allen – if the allegations against him are proved – preferred to use gullible investors, US politicians and sporting icons to bring him fame and fortune.

Hannity shills for him daily. "Stanford Gold"

2 posted on 02/21/2009 4:02:41 PM PST by mylife (The Roar of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: bruinbirdman

I thought he grew up in Ft. Worth and did business in Mexia as an adult.


3 posted on 02/21/2009 4:11:34 PM PST by Jedidah
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To: bruinbirdman
it is remarkable that Mexia - motto "a great place, no matter how you pronounce it" -

For those who might be wondering...

It's Muh-HAY-uh.

Not English. Not Spanish. But Tex-Mex.

4 posted on 02/21/2009 4:15:57 PM PST by okie01 (THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA: Ignorance on Parade)
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To: mylife
To what are you referring?
5 posted on 02/21/2009 4:40:08 PM PST by richardtavor (Pray for the peace of Jerusalem in the name of the G-d of Jacob)
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To: richardtavor

http://www.stanfordcoins.com/

Stanford Financial Group


6 posted on 02/21/2009 4:43:43 PM PST by mylife (The Roar of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: okie01

And id aint even in Bexar (Bayher) County


7 posted on 02/21/2009 4:45:31 PM PST by mylife (The Roar of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: richardtavor

http://www.stanfordfinancialreceivership.com/


8 posted on 02/21/2009 4:48:11 PM PST by mylife (The Roar of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: okie01

Mexia throwing up Anna Nicole Smith didn’t surprise me. There was a State School for the Retarded there or near there for years. It actually a major employer for the town.


9 posted on 02/21/2009 4:48:34 PM PST by tbw2 (Freeper sci-fi - "Humanity's Edge" - on amazon.com)
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To: mylife

Nor is it on Manchaca Road (man-CHACK) in Austin.


10 posted on 02/21/2009 5:05:14 PM PST by okie01 (THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA: Ignorance on Parade)
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To: okie01

I believe you!


11 posted on 02/21/2009 5:07:02 PM PST by mylife (The Roar of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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