#mass fraud

Why aren't there random audits built into the system?

41 months the amount of time the attorneys for convicted ponzi schemer R. Allen Stanford's wanted him to be sentenced to prison

110 years the amount of time Stanford, who built a $7 billion scheme over 20 years, was actually sentenced; he could've gotten 230 years source

» For comparison's sake, Bernie Madoff got 150 years. Stanford, who was convicted of 13 of 14 fraud counts in March, lived a lavish life, and was at one point personally worth $2 billion. (His scheme, half the size of Madoff's, was nonetheless massive.) But his assets were frozen and he was so broke that he had to rely on court-appointed lawyers. Said lawyers have no sense of gravity, apparently — they seriously thought he'd get jailed for less than four years? Perhaps, though, it was Stanford himself who screwed up his chances, telling the judge this on Thursday: “I’m not here to ask for sympathy or forgiveness or to throw myself at your mercy. I did not run a Ponzi scheme. I didn’t defraud anybody.” He spoke for 40 minutes. He claimed the U.S. used  “gestapo tactics” on him. In return, he got a huge sentence.