Cricket billionaire Stanford surrenders to FBI

London, June 19 (ANI): Texas billionaire businessman and alleged fraudster, Sir Allen Stanford, has surrendered to US authorities after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

It was not yet clear what criminal charges he faces. According to the Houston Chronicle, a grand jury weighing the charges against Stanford returned a sealed indictment earlier on Thursday.

The cricket entrepreneur handed himself in to the FBI in Virginia, and is expected to appear in court later, his lawyer said.

"He surrendered. He's in FBI custody," Dick DeGuerin confirmed.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has already charged Stanford in a civil fraud case, SKY News reports.

The 59-year-old is accused of fraudulently selling eight billion dollars in certificates of deposit from his own Stanford International Bank based in his adopted home of Antigua.

Regulators in the US claim the flamboyant businessman and his firms lied to investors about their money being safe.

Texan Stanford made his fortune through expanding his family's investment company into a financial service giant. He also raked in several hundred million dollars from buying cheap properties during a collapse in the Texas economy in the 1980s and selling them on at a profit.

He made huge investments in sport and transformed cricket in the West Indies with his financial input.ast summer, he invited England's top cricketers to play in a lucrative game in Antigua, where the winning team members scooped one million dollar each.

But the England and Wales Cricket Board severed all connections with him after he was charged with the multi-billion-dollar fraud. (ANI)