Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years in prison for $7bn Ponzi scheme US authorities had sought a 230 year sentence for a man they described as "a ruthless predator responsible for one of the most egregious frauds in history." Stanford used the hearing to argue that "Stanford was a real brick-and-mortar global financial empire," that only crumbled after the government accused the company of being a Ponzi scheme in 2009. The demise of the flamboyant Texan has been a source of acute discomfort at the English Cricket Board's headquarters at Lord's, where Stanford landed in a helicopter in the summer of 2008 to promote a game between the West Indies Stanford Superstars and the England team. That embarrassment was magnified in Antigua, where the former billionaire became the first American to be given a knighthood by the island in 2006. He was later stripped of the honour. Attempts to prosecute Stanford were delayed in 2009 when the fraudster was attacked and badly injured at a detention facility in Texas. On Thursday, his lawyers had asked that he served a three to four year sentence. The 110 years he did get is the largest for a fraudster in America since Bernie Madoff was given 150 years in 2009.