A former Texas billionaire has been sentenced to 110 years in prison for swindling thousands of investors. The financier, Allen Stanford, had been found guilty in March of defrauding investors from more than 100 countries of $7bn. From Washington, Jonny Dymond.

一名原德克萨斯亿万富翁因诈骗上千名投资者被判入狱110年。今年三月，法院已裁定这名叫Allen Stanford金融家榨取来自100多个国家的投资者共计7亿美元。Jonny Dymond从华盛顿报道。

"I did not run a Ponzi scheme." Allen Stanford told the court. "I did not defraud anyone." But the judge did not agree. The prosecution had asked for a 230-year sentence. In the end, it got just under half that, but Mr Stanford can now expect to die in prison. He was convicted in early March on 13 counts of wire and mail fraud, obstruction and money laundering. His knighthood has already been stripped from him. His victims have little hope of recovering their money.

“我没操作庞氏骗局，” Allen Stanford在法庭上申辩，“我没有诈骗任何人。”不过法官们对此并不接受。原告要求法庭判处Stanford230年监禁，虽然最终法庭裁定的入狱时间不到230的半数，但Stanford只可能在监狱里度过余生了。今年三月初他被裁定共计13起罪名，包括网络和邮件诈骗，妨害罪，洗钱。他的爵士身份已被剥夺。不过受害者的钱几乎没有希望失而复得。