U.S. billionaire Allen Stanford, who is accused of a fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), was found in the Fredericksburg, Virginia, area on Thursday by law enforcement officials, the SEC announced.
At the SEC's request, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) located and identified Allen Stanford, chairman of Stanford Financial Group, in the area and served him "with court orders and documents related to the SEC's civil filing against him and three of his companies," the SEC said in a statement.
On Tuesday, the SEC accused the 58-year-old tycoon and three of his companies of fraudulently selling 8 billion dollars in certificates of deposit with impossibly high interest rates from his Antiguan affiliate, Stanford International Bank Ltd(SIB).
Apart from SIB, Stanford also has Houston-based broker-dealer and investment adviser Stanford Group Company(SGC) and investment adviser Stanford Capital Management(SCM), Xinhua reported.
The SEC also charged SIB chief financial officer James Davis and Stanford Financial Group chief investment officer Laura Pendergest-Holt in the enforcement action.
The billionaire failed to respond to civil charges filed in Texas on Tuesday, and federal agents raided Stanford Financial Group offices in Miami, Houston and other U.S. cities earlier this week, according to news reports.
But Stanford had not been arrested, FBI spokesman Richard Kolko was quoted as saying Thursday. The spokesman gave few other details.