ALLEN STANFORD CONTINUES TO FIGHT WITH FIFTH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS OVER PROCEDURAL ISSUES

Imprisoned former banker/$7bn Ponzi schemer R Allen Stanford (Stanford International Bank) continues to have problems with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, where he has brought a Pro Se appeal of his conviction and sentence. Whoever the jailhouse lawyers are who are assisting him need to follow the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, because his actions are not winning him any friends on the Court.

As you may recall, he has already butt heads with the Court more than once, over the size of his initial brief, and exhibits, and lost each time. Now, the problems are becoming more serious, and his tactics surely are not endearing him to court staff, and the same judges who will decide his fate.

After filing his ( reduced in size, to comply with rules) brief, he attempted an end run around the rules, by seeking, twice to supplement his brief. The US Attorney, of course, objected, and the Court  denied his motion. Then, things got worse.

The US Attorney obtained an extension from the Court, on its Brief of Appellee, and Stanford sought, unsuccessfully, to obtain an reversal of the ruling allowing the extension. Then, he had the gall to file a formal motion, which the Court actually not only denied, but pointedly refused to consider and accept for filing, apparently upon the grounds that it was moot. He followed neither the Appellate Rules, nor the 5th Circuit Local Rules, in his approach; no wonder he was not successful.

When Stanford objected to the US Attorney's motion for extension of time, he not only lost whatever future professional courtesy he might have received for his own requests, but obviously marked himself with the Court as a problem litigant. If I was doing 110 years on my sentence, I would be bending over backwards to make a good, professional impression with the the judges who will ultimately rule on how I am going to spend the rest of my life.

Considering that Allen Stanford was, in large part, due to his lobbying efforts, a major obstacle to the enactment of many AML/CFT legislative reforms, prior to 9/11, we should not be surprised at these antics, but he's only hurting himself.