By Eileen O'Grady and Bruce Nichols
HOUSTON (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Texas financier Allen Stanford, accused of a $7 billion (4.2 billion pound) fraud, held without bail until trial.
U.S. prosecutors had argued that Stanford, who faces life in prison if convicted on all charges contained in a 21-count indictment, had the means and motive to flee.
"The court determines that Stanford is a serious flight risk and there is no condition or combination of conditions or pre-trial release that would reasonably assure his appearance," U.S. District Judge David Hittner said in an order that revokes a $500,000 bond that a magistrate had granted Stanford on Thursday.
Stanford, who spent the last 15 years living in the Caribbean where he was knighted by the Antiguan government, had a network of wealthy associates and had at least two passports, prosecutors told Hittner at hearing on Monday.
"We are very disappointed and we are going to appeal to the 5th Circuit," Dick DeGuerin, Stanford's lawyer said in a statement.
The billionaire, who is more accustomed to jetting around the globe in his private planes, has been in custody since his arrest on June 18 in Virginia. He is currently being held in a federal detention centre 40 miles north of Houston.
The start of Stanford's trial is tentatively scheduled for August 25, but that date likely will be changed. DeGuerin told a judge last week that it would take at least a year to prepare for the trial, which involves documents and investors in the United States, Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America.
The government accuses Stanford of leading a massive Ponzi scheme using the investor funds from certificates of deposit issued by his bank in Antigua.
Stanford sought to avoid detection by creating false accounting records, lying to investors and bribing a regulatory official in Antigua, according to prosecutors.
"It's appropriate, it's very much appropriate given the severity of the charges," said Angela Shaw, who says her family lost $2 million in Stanford investments. Shaw heads up a coalition of 2,500 Stanford clients who lost money.
The case, filed in federal court in Houston, is United States of America v. Robert Allen Stanford H-09-342.
(Reporting by Eileen O'Grady and Bruce Nichols; Additional reporting by Erwin Seba in Houston; Writing by Anna Driver; Editing by Carol Bishopric, Gary Hill)