The financial regulator, Leroy King has been suspended by Antigua and Barbuda after his condemnation on charges of collaborating in an alleged scam worth $7 billion through Ponzi scheme run by Texas billionaire Allen Stanford.

It was alleged that Antigua's top bank regulator was paid more than $100,000 by R. Allen Stanford, Texas financier, to conduct fake audits and mislead U.S. investigators.
 
Earlier, Texas billionaire Allen Stanford, 59, was arrested on Thursday in Virginia. On Friday he was appeared in federal court in Richmond, where a judgment was pronounced to keep him in custody until a hearing in Houston.

Apart from Allen Stanford and Leroy King, other 21 big shots have been indicted in the case. The list includes Laura Pendergest-Holt, Stanford Financial's chief investment officer; Gilberto Lopez, company's chief accounting officer; and Mark Kuhrt, global controller of an affiliate.

In a separate fraud indictment, Stanford International Bank Ltd.'s chief financial officer, James Davis was charged by the authorities.

According to prosecutors, Stanford beguiled about 30,000 investors, many in the U.S., with promises of high interest on bank certificates, but in fact ran a Ponzi scheme in which money from new investors, instead of being invested as promised, went to pay "profits" to earlier investers.

It may be noted here that in February, the SEC filed a civil fraud complaint against Stanford, Davis and Pendergest-Holt. Though, Stanford had denied any transgression from his side.