James Davis, the chief financial officer at the Stanford Financial Group, yesterday pleaded guilty to charges that he helped Sir Allen Stanford the company's billionaire founder, in an alleged $7bn Ponzi scheme.
Sir Allen, who set up the Stanford 20-20 cricket tournament, had been due to appear in court on a separate matter but was taken by ambulance to hospital earlier in the day with an irregular heart beat and an extremely high pulse.
Mr Davis, 60, who made the plea in the US district court in Houston in a co-operation agreement with the authorities, pleaded “guilty, your honour” to three felony counts, including fraud and obstruction of justice, for which he could face a maximum prison term of 30 years.