http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/mar2009/db2009033_601499.htm<snip>
With R. Allen Stanford, the alleged mastermind of an $8 billion fraud that has snared depositors in his offshore bank, appearances long have been deceiving.
In 1984, just two years before he opened his bank in the Caribbean, Stanford, deep in debt, filed for bankruptcy. Yet that didn't stop the 6-foot-4-inch Stanford from passing himself off to investors as a successful businessman with a long history in the financial-services industry.
Indeed, by last year, Stanford had all the hallmarks of being one of the richest men in the world. But securities regulators—in a civil complaint—allege that much of Stanford's $2.2 billion personal fortune may have come from treating the offshore bank he created like his own personal ATM.
But in the early 1980s, Stanford overreached when he tried to expand his health club business into Houston. He planned to open a giant club in a new office tower going up in the city's downtown. But the club soon failed when the bottom fell out of the oil market and many new office buildings in Houston were left vacant. He fell behind on the rent for his health clubs. Ultimately, his Total Fitness Centers filed for bankruptcy in 1982.
Reinventing Himself
The failed foray into the health club business left Stanford, then 34, deep in the red and fending off more than 100 creditors. In February 1984, Stanford and his wife, Susan, filed for personal bankruptcy.
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