Indicted billionaire en route to Texas

WASHINGTON (KXAN/AP) - A law enforcement official said indicted billionaire Robert Allen Stanford is en route to Texas to face charges for a $7 billion swindle he ran.

After a court hearing in Richmond, Va., Stanford, a fifth-generation Texan, is being escorted by U.S. Marshals to Houston, where he is to be sentenced. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because discussing the transfer was not authorized.

The official said the trip will consist of two separate flights, and Stanford should be in Houston sometime Tuesday afternoon.

Stanford was indicted the week of June 15 on charges that his international banking empire was really just a massive Ponzi scheme built on lies and bribery. Along with Stanford's arrest, six other people both Stanford Financial Group executives and bank regulators were charged with fraud.

He and the six associates are charged with wire fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Stanford also is charged with conspiring to obstruct a Securities and Exchange Commission proceeding.

"This case is a typical Ponzi scheme, robbing Peter to pay Paul," said Gregory Campbell of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service .

Authorities said they are investigating at least 100 other possible Ponzi schemes.

"We will find you, we will stop you, and we will make you pay for your crime," said Campbell.

Stanford made an initial court appearance in Richmond, Va., and a further detention hearing is scheduled to take place in Houston.

The indictment unsealed Friday in Houston charged Stanford and other executives at Stanford Financial Group falsely claimed to have grown $1.2 billion in assets in 2001 to roughly $8.5 billion by the end of 2008.

Investigators said Stanford claimed healthy returns for those investors, however, he was secretly diverting more than $1.6 billion in personal loans to himself.

If Stanford is convicted of all 21 alleged charges, he could face as many as 250 years in prison, officials said.