Sir Allen Stanford, the Texan businessman who stands accused of operating a $7bn Ponzi scheme, is having a hard time adjusting to the reality of his new circumstances.

The financier, who has denied all the allegations against him, has been in federal custody since his arrest on June 18, and has had multiple requests for bail overturned.

His most recent accommodation – a cell at a detention facility in Conroe, Texas – is a far cry from the lavish lifestyle to which he had grown used, and reflects the continued tough stance toward Sir Allen adopted by the US.

Sir Allen’s criminal lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, provided some detail on the conditions faced by the businessman in a court documents filed on Sunday. According to the “Motion for relief from oppressive jail conditions”:

For at least a week,  during the hottest part of the summer, with outside temperatures of 100 degrees or more, the place where Allen Stanford is being held as a pretrial detainee has had no air conditioning and for part of that time was without power altogether.

Allen Stanford is housed in a single cell with between eight to ten other men…There are no windows for light or ventilation and the conditions are intolerable.

In the filing, Mr DeGuerin asked the court to transfer his client to to the Federal Detention Center in downtown Houston, “both because of the oppressive conditions under which he is suffering, as well as the impossible conditions for preparing for his complex trial.”

Earlier this month Judge David Hittner, who is presiding over the criminal case against Sir Allen, denied the businessman’s original request to be transferred to the downtown facility.

This entry was posted by Stacy-Marie Ishmael on Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 16:56 and is filed under Capital markets, People. Tagged with Sir Allen Stanford. Edit this entry.