Allen Standford (Standford group news) should thank Bernard Madoff, who continues to get most of the attention when it comes to epic Ponzi schemes (fraud news). If it weren't for Madoff, Stanford would no doubt be the poster boy. But that doesn't mean Stanford's had it easy. Just the opposite, in fact.

According to Reuters, he has been "so savagely beaten" in prison "that he has lost all feeling in the right side of his face and has lost near-field vision in his right eye." His lawyers say he is a "wreck of a man." They want him freed from prison. Add to that the fact that Stanford keeps hiring and firing lawyers at such a prodigious rate that a judge is fed up. Stanford responded by firing yet another lawyer.

To add insult to all of this, one commentator on Fortune argues that Stanford's crimes were even worse than Madoff's. The reason? He exploited CDs, a product near and dear to conservative investors and elderly folk everywhere. How dare he corrupt them? But he did. 

For more:
- here's the Reuters article

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