FBI is examining criminal charges against Allen Stanford, including allegations that his Antigua-based bank was used as a money-laundering centre

Yesterday, however, it emerged that the FBI is examining criminal charges against Allen Stanford, including allegations that his Antigua-based bank was used as a money-laundering centre by drug cartels. The enquiry calls into question the ultimate provenance of the $20m in banknotes that Stanford trailed in a transparent chest through Lord's cricket ground last summer, when he announced his controversial entry into English sport.
Allen Stanford, the billionaire who bankrolled English cricket, was tracked down in Virginia by FBI agents, two days after being accused of an $8bn (£5.6bn) fraud.The Texan financier's whereabouts had been unknown since regulators accused him of lying to clients in the US, the Caribbean and across Latin America, and shut down large parts of his $50bn empire. Stanford was not arrested yesterday, since the charges against him stem only from a civil lawsuit brought by America's financial watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission. FBI agents served the SEC's lawsuit on Stanford after finding him in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he has relatives. There was no sign that he had been trying to evade authorities, an FBI official said. He was served with the papers in his car, where he was travelling with a girlfriend. He was "making arrangements to turn in" his passport, the official added.