Plea points to bribes and blood oaths

HOUSTON, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Billionaire businessman R. Allen Stanford and the top bank regulator in Antigua took a blood oath in 2003, a court plea agreement in Houston says.

The meeting included cutting wrists and mixing blood, a plea agreement entered by the bank's chief financial officer, James Davis, said.

The "brotherhood ceremony" Stanford and banking supervisor Leroy King performed was then backed by bribes, The New York Times reported Friday.

Davis's plea agreement says Stanford directed him to manage a Swiss bank account for Antigua's top bank regulator.

Stanford has been charged with operating a Ponzi scheme in which he allegedly used an offshore bank, Stanford International, to sell fraudulent certificates of deposit.

Davis's plea agreement says Stanford's fraudulent practices began at the Guardian International Bank on Montserrat in 1988, the Houston Chronicle reported.

On Thursday, a separate hearing for Stanford was postponed after Stanford was hospitalized due to a racing heartbeat.

Stanford has blamed Davis for any wrongdoing.

After entering a guilty plea in federal court in Houston Thursday, Davis said, "I did wrong. I'm sorry. I apologize. And I take responsibility for my actions."