Jury Selection Begins In Texas Billionaire's Trial
HOUSTON (AP) - More than 2 1/2 years after being indicted for allegedly bilking investors out of $7 billion in a massive Ponzi scheme, jailed Texas financier R. Allen Stanford is set to go to trial.
Jury selection in Stanford's trial began Monday in Houston federal court.
Testimony is expected to last at least a month. Stanford's attorneys say they expect the financier will testify.
Stanford's trial was delayed while he spent more than eight months last year under treatment in a North Carolina federal prison hospital after he was declared incompetent due to an anti-anxiety drug addiction developed while jailed in Houston.
Last month, a judge ruled Stanford was competent.
Stanford's attorneys had sought to delay the trial, claiming the financier remains incompetent and they needed more time to prepare.
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