Tweets cost Allen Stanford fair trial

US district judge David Hittner, who presided over Stanford’s month-long trial in Houston, “permitted the media to tweet throughout”, according to a filing by Stanford’s legal team this week. Stanford, who famously landed a helicopter on Lord’s cricket ground as he arrived to sign a multi-million-pound deal with the English Cricket Board in 2008, was found guilty earlier this month of orchestrating a $7bn (£4.4bn) Ponzi scheme that defrauded more than 20,000 investors. Lawyers for the 61-year-old Texan also said they had not been given sufficient time to prepare a defence for the man once said to be worth $2bn. Judge Hittner turned down the request yesterday (THURSDAY). The investors who lost money with Stanford have yet to see any of it returned. The jury that convicted him also found that US authorities should try to retrieve $330m from foreign bank accounts. Stanford is due to be sentenced on June 14.