Cricket mogul Stanford to be stripped of knighthood over Ponzi scam

London, Nov. 3 : Texan cricket tycoon Allen Stanford who is being investigated by the FBI for running a 7 billion dollar Ponzi scheme, will be stripped of his knighthood in Antigua and Barbuda.

The Telegraph quoted Jacqui Quinn-Leandro, the chairman of the Caribbean country’s National Honours Committee, as saying that the nation voted unanimously to revoke his title for "embarrassing the nation" by running the scheme out of his Antigua-based offshore bank.

“It''s not that we''re saying he''s guilty, but it''s the honour that has been brought into disrepute," Quinn-Leandro added.

Stanford is in jail in Texas awaiting charges for allegedly defrauding some 28,000 investors by selling them bogus certificates of deposits.

Stanford received his knighthood in 2006 from the governor general - the representative of the Queen in the country - and was widely known as "Sir Allen" in the Caribbean nation.

It has been alleged that Stanford used the title''s prestige to help lure investors to buy certificates of deposits from his offshore bank while promising rates of return that were consistently higher than most financial institutions.

A group of investors has also filed a lawsuit against Antigua and Barbuda alleging that local authorities failed to adequately monitor Stanford International Bank Ltd., and profited from the alleged fraud.

--ANI