Stanford criminal fraud trial starts

Two Stanford Financial Group Co. accountants actively assisted R. Allen Stanford in perpetrating a $7 billion investor fraud, a prosecutor alleged at the start of the last criminal trial tied to the Ponzi scheme. Chief Accounting Officer Gilbert Lopez, 70, and Global Controller Mark Kuhrt, 40, face 10 counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which could send them to prison for more than 20 years if convicted. The men pleaded not guilty after they were indicted with Stanford in June 2009. “This trial is about two high-level corporate accountants who knew about the biggest part of the fraud and actively worked behind the scenes for years to cover it up,” Jeffrey Goldberg, a prosecutor from the U.S. Justice Department, told a federal jury today in Houston.
More in the Clarion Ledger here.