DALLAS, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- The receiver of R. Allen Stanford's businesses said Thursday he sued two ex-employees of the Texas financier's international bank for $11 million.
Ralph Janvey said in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Dallas the money, allegedly funneled to Christopher Aitken and Stephen Thacker to hide it from creditors, should be returned to investors who bought certificates of deposit from the Stanford International Bank on the Caribbean island of Antigua.
The investors were allegedly defrauded in a $7 billion Ponzi scheme.
The complaint alleges Aitken of Ponte Vedra, Fla., received nearly $8.7 million, and Thacker of Baltimore received nearly $2.6 million -- both when they joined the firm last November.
Aitken and Thacker, employed there for only three months, left "no indication that they provided any meaningful services," the lawsuit said.
Lawyers for Aitken and Thacker could not immediately be reached by United Press International for comment.
Stanford faces 21 counts of conspiracy, fraud, bribery and obstruction of justice tied to an alleged scheme promising inflated returns on CDs. Authorities charge he instead used money from new investors to pay off old investors -- and bribed regulators and accountants in Antigua to ignore the alleged wrongdoing.
They also accuse him of skimming more than $1 billion to pay for his lavish lifestyle.
Stanford denies the allegations.
Stanford, 59, spat blood into a water cup while appearing at a criminal court hearing in Houston Wednesday, the Houston Chronicle reported.
He said he was OK when Senior U.S. District Judge David Hittner asked him if he needed medical attention.
Stanford is jailed in Houston without bail as a possible flight risk.
A trial date will be set in December.
