Financier Allen Stanford loses bid for new trial

(Reuters) - The financier Allen Stanford on Thursday lost his bid for a new trial, 16 days after being convicted for running an estimated $7 billion Ponzi scheme.

District Judge David Hittner in Houston turned down Stanford's request for a new trial in a brief order, without explaining his reasons.

Stanford, who turns 62 on Saturday, was convicted on March 6 by a Houston federal jury on 13 of 14 counts related to what prosecutors said was the sale of bogus certificates of deposit from his Antigua-based Stanford International Bank Ltd.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Dale Hudson)