Stanford's inner sanctum had bar, bathroom exit
HOUSTON (Reuters) - If Texas billionaire Allen Stanford ever wanted to make a low-profile departure from the inner sanctum within his lavish Houston headquarters, there was a private exit through his personal bathroom.
Lawyers for the court-appointed receiver overseeing Stanford's corporate empire gave Reuters a tour of the Houston headquarters of Stanford Financial Group, a mass of marble and mahogany that once boasted a 5-star dining room, movie theater, professional kitchen and wine bar.
Every part of the building is grandiose, which speaks to the larger-than-life image Stanford created as a jet-setting financier, sports promoter and philanthropist.
But the richness of his first-floor labyrinth of personal rooms, accessible only with a magnetic card, speaks volumes about how he lived.
A huge mahogany sculpture of an eagle, Stanford's corporate symbol, stands watch at the entrance to the private suite.
Nearby, a white stone bears the message: "HARD WORK, CLEAR VISION, VALUE for the CLIENT". The main security desk is a few feet away.
"Only a couple of people had cards that would get them through that door," an attorney working for receiver Ralph Janvey said, sliding the key-card across the magnetic detector box.
A large atrium with white columns, massive mahogany double doors and a bronze of Stanford's corporate insignia embedded in an inlaid floor lead to his private office.
With another swipe of the card, the lawyer, who declined to be named, opens the double doors to Stanford's office.
The room is massive.
At first, it is hard to see Stanford's belongings behind stacks of legal boxes that Janvey's staff has crammed into the office.
Mahogany covers the walls. There is a boardroom table, a sea of Oriental rugs, a large bar off to one side.
Stanford's desk is situated in a corner of the cavernous space beside floor-to-ceiling windows that look onto a manicured lawn, flowering bushes and palm tree, perhaps in deference to his affinity for the Caribbean and the islands of Antigua and St. Croix, where he had a home and property.
Stanford frequently visited those islands before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged him, two aides and three of his companies with an $8 billion fraud involving certificates of deposit issued by his Antigua bank.
In an interview on Monday at the law offices of Houston criminal attorney Dick DeGuerin, Stanford denied any improper behavior and asserted that his companies were well-run until the SEC "disemboweled" them in February. Continued...
