The disclosure that Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire, a brash 58-year-old financier was charged by the US Securities and Exchange commission on 17th February 2009 with an alleged $9 billion fraud, based on false promises involving a multi-billion dollar investment scheme, will have shocked many people. Last summer, on a day the ECB will never be allowed to forget, Stanford arrived at Lord's in a helicopter to announce details of his Super Series, an annual winner-takes-all match staged in Antigua, worth $100 million over five years. This man admitted to knowing nothing about cricket just as Giles Clarke, founder of Majestic Wine and the ECB chairman obviously knew very little about Stanford. Meanwhile hundreds of people have now lined up to withdraw money from banks in Antigua and Caracas affiliated with the Texan billionaire. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Stanford of operating a fraud centered on the sale of certificates of deposit from his Antiguan affiliate, Stanford International Bank Ltd (SIB). A simple Know Your Customer check was all that would have been necessary to determine whether it would be wise to do business with a person with his reputation, already well known to the SEC.