Judge issues gag order in fraud case of Texas financier Stanford and former-executives

Gag order issued in Stanford fraud case

HOUSTON — A federal judge in Houston has issued a gag order in the case of jailed Texas financier R. Allen Stanford and three of his former company executives.

The four are accused of bilking investors out of $7 billion in a Ponzi scheme.

In a court order released Thursday, U.S. District Judge David Hittner said he issued the order because of concern that the jury pool in the upcoming trials might be tainted because the case has been tried in the press.

Hittner issued the order on his own, without prosecutors or defense attorneys in the case requesting it.

Stanford’s trial is set to begin Jan. 24. His three co-defendants will be tried later.