'Devastated' Stanford: I'm No Thief

“As God is my witness, there is no Ponzi scheme," accused swindler Sir Robert Allen Stanford told the Houston Chronicle yesterday. His financial companies were well-run before the government seized and "disemboweled" them, claimed the billionaire. If any fraud was committed at Stanford Financial, it was done by its former CFO, he charged.

Stanford—who complained that his credit cards are frozen and that he can't even pay his lawyers—said his priority is to make things whole for his investors, his former employees, and himself. "It’s debilitating, devastating, horrific,” a visibly agitated Stanford told the New York Times. “But I am going to fight for my name, and I am going to win.” (More Robert Allen Stanford stories.)