For most of us, poor Allen Stanford dropped off of our radars awhile ago.  Even though he was accused of a $7 billion Ponzi-like scheme involving certificate of deposits in Antigua, he had the misfortune of being eclipsed by Bernie Madoff, who will go down in history as the biggest swindler in U.S. history since Carlo Ponzi.  Stanford is a mere also-ran, who didn't have the attractive family, fancy and famous clientele, or New York presence to garner much press attention.  Even his bizarre pre-trial antics didn't whip up much attention.

However, Stanford is set to be sentenced this week in Houston after having been convicted on multiple counts of fraud earlier this year.  Peter Henning dissects the prosecution's request for a maximum sentence that would exceed Madoff's 150-year sentence.  Madoff's sentence was interesting not only for its length and its symbolic value, but also for its being applied to a case in which the defendant quickly pled guilty and at least appeared to cooperate.  Stanford isn't that easy to work with and has continued to protest his innocence.

As Peter notes, several white-collar cases in the post-Enron era have garnered lengthy sentences, reflecting the sense that wiping out individual's savings is akin to "economic homicide," worthy of murder-like punishments.  I also wrote about this trend here (Enron)and here (Madoff), musing that our 401(k)s are now our castles, not our homes.

Anyway, if Stanford wants to be in the history books, he needs to hit 151.

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