Allen Stanford Sent Back to Texas

(CN) - Alleged Ponzi schemer R. Allen Stanford has been transferred out of a North Carolina federal prison hospital where he was treated for drug dependency after a vicious beating by inmates in a Texas prison.

Stanford, 61, had been at the Federal Detention Center in Butner, N.C., since February. He was sent to the Federal Detention Center in Houston, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.

Stanford is accused of running an $8 billion Ponzi scheme involving sale of certificates of deposit from his Antigua-based Stanford International Bank.

He has been incarcerated since his June 2009 indictment in the Southern District of Texas. The criminal indictment came after Stanford, his bank and bank officers were sued in Dallas by the SEC, in February 2009.

Originally scheduled for trial in January this year, Stanford's trial has yet to be rescheduled.

Ali Fazel, Stanford's criminal defense attorney, declined to comment reporters on his client's location or mental state, citing U.S. District Judge David Hittner's order against publicly discussing some aspects of the case.

"Once he's back in Houston, the next thing would be either a hearing or some sort of agreement between the parties that he is competent to stand trial," Fazel told Bloomberg News Service in a telephone interview last week. "The judge has to find him competent."

Stephen Cochell, Stanford's civil defense attorney in the SEC lawsuit, told Bloomberg that Stanford should have stayed in the Butner prison at least through January.

"Stanford still suffers from long-term and short-term memory loss as a result of his medical treatment," Cochell said in a September filing in Dallas Federal Court.

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