Allen Stanford gave an interview with CNBC that will air at 8:00 this evening, but it looks like the network was just a stop on a broader media campaign he's waging. That's because he also has interviews today with NYT and Bloomberg.
We're really curious what the legal strategy is. Normally defendants in high profile cases are advised by their lawyers to just shut the hell up and not say a single word. But Stanford, though technically he hasn't been charged yet, seems to be talking to anyone that will listen.
And his line is always the same. With tears in his eyes (NYT says he cried again, just like with the ABC interview last mont), he says he ran a completely legitimate business and didn't swindle anyone, but had his company destroyed by regulators.
But if there were any problems, he's blaming his CFO:
NYT: In the interview, part of a one-day media blitz, Mr. Stanford appeared to lay out a defense strategy that includes blaming his chief financial officer and former Baylor University roommate, James M. Davis, for masterminding whatever fraud might have occurred.
“The investment and risk committee reported to Jim Davis, not to me,” he said, carefully choosing his words. “The Stanford International Bank quarterly report was produced in Tupelo, Miss., under Davis’s direction and signed off by him. I trusted his integrity.”
We're not surprised that he's taking this tack. Davis, of course, is doing the same thing.
But we're still confused about the media blitz? Is Stanford's lawyer, Dick Deguerrin, worried that no jury pool in America could possibly acquit him given the coverage so far? That's possible. It's also just a weird case, in large part since he hasn't been tried yet, so maybe there's another angle we're not seeing.
