“We are alleging a fraud of shocking magnitude that has spread its tentacles throughout the world," said an SEC official. Stanford's assets have been frozen and a federal judge has appointed a receiver "to take possession and control of defendants' assets for the protection of defendants' victims."

This has of course meant that it is bad cricket news as well, since Stanford was in the midst of working out a new deal midst of working out a new deal with the England and Wales Cricket Board (EC). He was reported in the cricket news as negotiating the new three-year deal with the ECB to replace the earlier multi million five-year deal he signed with the board in June 2008.

This fraud accusation is of course a massive embarrassment for the ECB who have stopped all negotiations with regard to the new three year deal that was being hammered out. The proposed quadrangular Twenty20 series in England in May which was much in recent cricket headlines is now unlikely to happen. The ECB chairman Giles Clarke said his organisation was now weighing up the possibility of utilising get-out clauses in its agreement with Stanford. "Clearly that is a matter we would consider. We will clearly consider that situation but we have suspended negotiations so there is a strong possibility it will not take place," he said.

For his part Stanford, who was behind the Twenty20 cricket contest between England and a team of cricketing all-stars with the highest ever prize money and who also has endorsement relationships with golfer Vijay Singh and England footballer Michael Owen as well as involvement in golf and polo has denied all wrong doing.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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