Allen Stanford gets 110 years in the big house

Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years in prison


(Reuters) - Former billionaire Allen Stanford was sentenced to 110 years in prison on Thursday for running a $7 billion scheme in which he stole money from his investors to finance an extravagant lifestyle in the Caribbean.


Sir Allen & Me: An Insider's Look at R. Allen Stanford and the Island of Antigua

Warren Buffett flips and flops, again

Warren Buffett's Jiu-Jitsu 

Jiu-jitsu "is a martial art, martial art, combat sport, and a self defense system that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting." (Wikipedia)

Warren Buffett dazzles the MSNBC crowd 

As we all know, on a weekly basis, and for years, Warren Buffett has been able to dazzle, out talk and persuade a very gullible (and economically challenged) audience at MSNBC (and elsewhere) on a number of very crazy notions over the years.

This has been, and he has been very successful for the most part.

Warren Buffett attempts to dazzle Washington D.C.'s Economic Club

This week, Warren attempted to sell his usual propaganda to a wider (more sophisticated?) audience.

He attempted to set the record straight, Warren-style.

He attempted to dazzle them with facts.

He attempted a retreat to the middle ground.

Listen to this stuff!

"I support certain Republicans. Actually this year I gave money to a Republican congressman." 

[Federal Election Commission data shows that Virginia Republican Scott Rigell a donation of $2,500 from Warren Himself; although that is somewhat less than the $70,000 he has given to help re-elect President Obama].

Warren Buffett drinks his own home-brewed Kool-Aid 

 "We're not smarter than the people in 1930, we don't worker harder than the people in 1930, we just have a system that works and has been working since 1776 and will keep working."

R. Allen Stanford guilty on 13 of 14 charges of money laundering and fraud

In Houston, a jury has found R. Allen Stanford, 61, guilty on 13 of 14 charges of money laundering and fraud. This was a Ponzi scheme that lost billions of dollars for investors worldwide.


The jury verdict came during the fourth full day of deliberations and after a month long trial.

Societe Generale gets a call from the Department of Justice

The Justice Department is investigating whether French bank Société Générale SA helped facilitate Texas financier R. Allen Stanford's $7 billion ponzi scheme and network.


Societe Generale SA is at $17.91, down 55% 2011 YTD.

The $8-billion Caribbean confidence game of Allen Stanford

Book review of the former Texas billionaire and accused Ponzi schemer and scammer, Allen Stanford:


ST CROIX, USVI -- Texas billionaire and accused Ponzi scammer, Allen Stanford, is the focus of a new book written by a former Stanford executive. Sir Allen & Me: An Insider’s Look at R Allen Stanford and the Island of Antigua peers into the private and business life of the flamboyant financier, whom the federal government claims operated a “massive” $8-billion confidence game from his bank in the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda.


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Sir Allen & Me: An Insider's Look at R. Allen Stanford and the Island of Antigua

A billion dollar Ponzi scheme

When friends and family are gathered together for the holidays this month, one of the little children may come up to you and ask the following probing question:

"What's a Ponzi scheme?"

Since you visited the Think Billion$ blog today, you'll have the answer. Not only a answer, the answer, since it is an SEC approved answer.

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission: "Ponzi schemes are a type of illegal pyramid scheme named for Charles Ponzi, who duped thousands of New England residents into investing in a postage stamp speculation scheme back in the 1920s."

So, that is the textbook definition of a Ponzi scheme. Not answered, of course, is why Bernard Madoff did it. Will we ever truly know?

Interestingly, billionaire bad boy Mark (Momma) Cuban, has repeatedly called the stock market a Ponzi scheme over the years.

Twice as interesting is the fact that both Bernie Madoff and Mark Cuban are now in trouble stock market-wise, SEC-wise and otherwise this year.