By Jason Szep
BOSTON (Reuters) - Just three weeks ago, Allen Stanford was listed as one of the 100 most influential people in British sport. Now, the Texas billionaire is at the center of the latest investigation by Wall Street regulators.
In recent years, the flamboyant 58-year-old financier and cricket mogul has seldom strayed far from controversy -- from tangling with leaders of Antigua where he is the biggest single investor to ruffling the well-mannered world of international cricket by cavorting with the players' girlfriends.
Once described as "haughty, arrogant and obnoxious" by Antiguan Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer, America's 205th richest man often walks a fine line between critics and admirers in a business and sporting empire that reaches well beyond Texas to Europe and across the Caribbean.
"Allen enjoys life and is the kind of person that doesn't worry about what other people think," said David LeBoeuf, a Texas home builder who went to school with Stanford and counts him as one of his closest friends.
"Larger than life is one way to describe him but he's also an extremely talented, unique and hard-working individual," he said in an interview. "If you are one his friends and he cares about you, he'll do quite a bit for you and be there for you."
The tall, mustached Texan is facing the glare of the media anew as his $50 billion investment operation, Stanford Group Co, comes under investigation by U.S. regulators at a time when Bernard Madoff's suspected $50 billion fraud has put regulators and investors on high-alert for any whiff of wrongdoing.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority are examining sales of certificates of deposit in its affiliated, Antigua-based offshore bank and the steady, above-average returns those investments pay, sources say.
Stanford attributes the review to complaints by disgruntled former employees and describes the inspection as "routine". He says the company is rigorously managed and fully compliant with all U.S. regulations and that he "will fight with every breath to continue to uphold our good name."
It's the kind of quick, hard-edged response for which he is famous. A fifth-generation Texan, Stanford made his first fortune in Houston, snapping up distressed real estate in the early 1980s before inheriting the insurance and real estate-company his grandfather founded in 1932.
Forbes Magazine put his personal wealth at $2.2 billion last year and says his list of wealth-management clients includes pro golfer Vijay Singh. He credits his recent success in part to avoiding investments in subprime mortgages that snowballed into a global financial crisis.
Asked by CNBC television in September if it's fun being a billionaire, he smiled and replied, "Yes, yes, yes. I have to say it is fun being a billionaire. But it's hard work."
"SIR ALLEN"
For many years he lived in the twin-island Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda where he is by far its largest private employer and investor. With dual U.S. and Antiguan-Barbudan citizenship, Stanford has homes sprinkled across the region -- from Antigua to St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands to Miami.
Knighted in 2006 by the Antiguan authorities rather than the Queen of England, he is known by islanders as simply "Sir Allen" -- an ardent cricket enthusiast whose financial muscle has helped to rehabilitate West Indian cricket.
But he provoked uproar and scorn in the genteel world of cricket with a $1 million-per-player Twenty20 tournament that was widely ridiculed in the British media last year.
Months before the tournament, he landed a gold-plated helicopter at Lord's Cricket Ground in London, often called the home of British cricket, and unveiled a case packed with $20 million in cash. British media were merciless, calling the Texan "gaudy" and an affront to English sensibilities.
His "Stanford Superstars" side of West Indian cricketers became instant millionaires after beating England's team at his Stanford Cricket Ground in Antigua.
But the billionaire's image took a hit when he was captured on camera with an England player's wife on his knee. And even before the match the England and Wales Cricket Board intimated they would review ties with him.
In recent months, he has let staff go in Antigua, closing a cricket office there, and indicated he may withdraw from a once-celebrated $100 million deal with the England and Wales Cricket Board. There has been a variety of reasons for the cutbacks -- from bad press to the global financial crisis.
Back in the United States, he stirred controversy by claiming family ties to Leland Stanford, who founded Stanford University in the 1890s. The university says there is no genealogical connection between the two and sued Stanford Group in October for infringing on its trademark.
(Editing by Matthew Lewis)
