Allen Stanford's interview with the BBC from his cell at the high-security jail in Florida last week revived mixed memories of the Texan billionaire's involvement in West Indies cricket.
It ended in 2009 with his imprisonment for an unlikely 110 years on charges by the United States' Security and Exchange Commission of fraud, conspiracy and obstruction, most of it connected to his multimillion-dollar T20 tournaments in Antigua, one of the bases for his financial empire.
In the interview, he spoke of his "hell" in jail, of the severe beatings by inmates to which he was initially subjected, verified by the widely circulated images of his bloodied face as he was stretchered to hospital. The physical degradation followed the initial shame of being led to his cell handcuffed and wearing the familiar orange garb of American criminals.
Far from sounding a broken man, Stanford was defiant in the interview. "I didn't do anything wrong," he asserted. "Will I apologise? No. Mark my words… I am going to walk out of these doors a free man." He boasted that he had been "one of the wealthiest men on the planet", who needed his six jets to fly between his offices in 14 countries.
ESPNCRICINFO
