HOUSTON (AP) — The star prosecution witness at the fraud trial of the Texas financier R. Allen Stanford expressed remorse on Tuesday before being sentenced to five years in prison for helping Mr. Stanford defraud investors out of more than $7 billion in a long-running international Ponzi scheme.
The witness, James M. Davis, had faced up to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2009 to three fraud and conspiracy charges. At Mr. Stanford’s trial last year, Mr. Davis testified that as chief financial officer of Mr. Stanford’s companies he helped the financier falsify his bank’s profits and fabricate documents to hide the fraud.
In a brief statement, Mr. Davis said he would feel remorse and regret for the rest of his life.
“I am ashamed and I’m embarrassed,” Mr. Davis, 64, said at the sentencing hearing in Federal District Court in Houston. “I’ve perverted what was right and I hurt thousands of investors. I betrayed their trust and also associates and neighbors and friends and my family.”
Many of the most compelling details at Mr. Stanford’s trial — including testimony about bribes and blood oaths — came from Mr. Davis, who portrayed his ex-boss as the leader of the fraud who burned through billions of dollars from investors’ certificates of deposits. Mr. Stanford was convicted in March on 13 fraud-related counts and sentenced to 110 years in prison.
A prosecutor, Jason Varnado, had asked for Mr. Davis to get a 10-year prison term. He told Judge David Hittner in Federal District Court in Houston that while Mr. Davis’s cooperation in the case was outstanding, he came to authorities only after Mr. Stanford’s business empire was shut down and he had no other options. Mr. Davis’s sentence should reflect the severity of his crimes, Mr. Varnado said.
“Mr. Davis for 20 years lied and deceived thousands of investors, employees and the public, and helped Allen Stanford commit one of the largest frauds in American history,” he said.
A defense lawyer, David Finn, said Mr. Davis’s cooperation contributed greatly to the government’s efforts to locate and secure funds for investors.
“I’m not here to tell your honor my client was a saint,” Mr. Finn said. “He was remorseful, contrite and tried to make amends for the injuries he’s inflicted.”
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/business/james-m-davis-top-witness-in-stanford-ponzi-trial-sentenced-to-5-years.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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