A federal judge has ordered alleged Texas billionaire scammer Allen Stanford to get treatment for an addiction to prescription drugs before he faces trial, the Houston Chronicle reported.
The judge’s ruling delayed indefinitely Stanford’s trial, which had been scheduled to begin Jan. 24. A psychiatrist hired by Stanford’s team said in court that the defendant was taking three milligrams a day of an anti-anxiety drug normally only given out in one milligram a day doses for no longer than two weeks. The medication causes Stanford to suffer drowsiness, lack of energy and inability to focus on tasks, the psychiatrist reportedly said. Federal prosecutor Andrew Warren suggested Stanford was faking his symptoms, the newspaper said.
Lawyers for Stanford also responded to the federal government’s objections to his request for a two-year continuance. The prosecution accused Stanford of playing “musical attorneys.” Stanford, prosecutors said, made numerous counsel changes after the October hearing not because of financial issues, but because Stanford had personal issues with his attorneys. Stanford’s lawyers said in response that there were numerous financial difficulties because his insurance kept oscillating between paying and not paying.
“In sum, the Accused has not had access to his personal funds and was forced to seek funds from a directors’ and officers’ policy valued at 100 million dollars. The insurer did not make funds available for the Accused’s defense and this uncertainty of funds caused turnover in the Accused’s counsel.”
While the prosecution accused Stanford of exaggerating the complexity of the case, and argued that it involves only one company, Stanford says it involves all his businesses because “this case is about the flow of money through SIB and all related entities.” Stanford Financial Group of Companies, lawyers argue, “was a worldwide entity of diverse proportions.”
Stanford wants to review all his personal finances because he says he cannot “rely only on those documents that the Government deems as ‘hot documents.’ While those documents may be important to the Accused in his defense, such documents cannot be construed to represent all documents necessary to the Accused’s defense.”
“Internet access is required for the Accused to word-search the discovery housed on the database.”
Additional reporting by Alex Sciuto.
