US judge sets Allen Stanford trial for January 2011

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Alleged swindler Allen Stanford will spend more than a year in custody after a US judge on Thursday set his criminal trial for January 2011, later than prosecutors had hoped.

"This criminal case is going to get under way and it is going to go on schedule," US District Judge David Hittner said at a federal court hearing.

The date was a compromise between Stanford's attorney, who wanted the trial to start in summer 2011, and US prosecutors, who pushed for a September 2010 date.

"The government demands a speedy trial," said Paul Pelletier, a federal prosecutor in the case.

Stanford, 59, has been in custody since June 19, when the government charged him with 21 criminal charges that he ran a USD7 billion Ponzi scheme centered on fraudulent certificates of deposit (CDs) issued by his offshore bank in Antigua.

Stanford could face life in prison if convicted on all counts. Stanford in June pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Stanford, wearing a green jump suit, looked haggard and thin when he appeared at the court. His face was scruffy with an unshaven beard. He has been detained for months at a federal facility in downtown Houston.

Bernard Madoff, serving a 150-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to a USD65 billion fraud, awaited trial under house arrest in a penthouse on Manhattan's east side.

US prosecutors convinced Hittner that Stanford was a flight risk because of his dual US/Antiguan citizenship and his global network of wealthy connections.

Stanford, who was estimated to be worth USD2.2 billion by Forbes magazine in 2008, has had his assets frozen since February when the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil fraud charges against him.