Disgraced financier Allen Stanford appeared ill in court Wednesday but declined a speedy trial despite being held in solitary confinement after he was badly beaten in a jailhouse brawl.

Stanford, who was briefly hospitalized in September and underwent surgery for a non life-threatening aneurysm in his leg, began spitting up blood during a status hearing in Houston, Texas.

Judge David Hittner interrupted the proceedings to ask Stanford's lawyer "Is your client okay?" at which point Stanford nodded and rebuffed a court officer who tried to help him.

Stanford's lawyer told the judge that he needed at least two years to mount a defense for the flamboyant cricket mogul accused of bilking investors out of seven billion dollars.

Judge Hittner agreed to wait 60 days before setting a trial date to give the defense time to grapple with the more than 400 million pages of documents associated with the case.

Stanford, 59, faces up to 375 years in jail if convicted on 21 charges of fraud, money-laundering and obstruction.

He is accused of operating a Ponzi scheme that paid returns on Caribbean certificates of deposit using money from other investors and funding his lavish lifestyle with siphoned funds.

Stanford's lawyer said prison doctors could not explain why his client was ill, but noted that the stress of the case and imprisonment were taking an emotional and physical toll.

Kent Shaffer complained bitterly to reporters about the conditions Stanford faces in jail, saying his client was not allowed "any human contact" except with his lawyers and must be shackled on those occasions.

"They say it's for his protection but it's harassment," Schaffer said. "They are trying to break him."

He added that he would expect this kind of treatment in totalitarian regimes but "not in a country where people are innocent until proven guilty." Stanford has been in solitary confinement since he was transferred three weeks ago from a privately run jail in Conroe, Texas to the Federal Detention Center in downtown Houston.

The move followed Stanford's involvement in a fight with another inmate during which he suffered a concussion, broken nose and two black eyes.

According to the US Bureau of Prisons, it is not unusual for inmates to be isolated in so-called Special Housing Units.

"They are sent there for any number of reasons," said spokesperson Ross Edmond, such as for their own protection or for disciplinary reasons.

Schaffer was appointed as Stanford's public defender after his first lawyer asked to be removed from the case when Stanford could not pay his bills.

Stanford previously told the court that he is destitute after a court-appointed receiver in a related Securities and Exchange Commission civil case froze all his assets, including potential proceeds from an insurance policy meant to pay for his legal expenses.

The judge in that case ruled earlier this week that he would not bar Lloyd's of London from disbursing the insurance money.

But Stanford said Wednesday he wishes to retain Schaffer even though he now has the means to pay his own legal costs.

Schaffer is a highly-regarded criminal defense attorney in Houston, whose past clients include US Representative Craig Washington, oilman Oscar Wyatt, author Clifford Irving and the late Houston Astros star Ken Caminiti.

While other executives at Stanford Financial Group were indicted for their involvement in the financial ruse, Stanford was the only one incarcerated pending trial.

His dual US and Antiguan citizenship and access to jets, yachts and the billions in missing funds that prosecutors suggested are hidden in Swiss bank accounts, convinced Judge Hittner that Stanford was a flight risk.

AFP

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