WASHINGTON, Jan 23, CMC - The former chief financial officer for jailed Texas financier Allen Stanford has been jailed for five years.

The Justice Department said that James M. Davis, 64, who formerly worked with the Houston-based Stanford Financial Group and the Antigua-based Stanford International Bank (SIB), was sentenced on Tuesday for his role in helping the disgraced billionaire perpetrate a Ponzi scheme involving SIB, and for conspiring to obstruct a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into SIB.

US District Judge David Hittner also sentenced Davis to serve three years of supervised release.

Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer said as part of Davis’ sentence, the court also imposed a personal money judgment of one billion (US) dollars “which is an ongoing obligation for Davis to pay back criminal proceeds”.

During the sentencing proceeding, Judge Hittner noted that Davis began cooperating with the government in early 2009, shortly after SIB’s collapse.

The judge also noted that over the following three years, Davis provided “substantial assistance” to the authorities in the investigation and prosecution of others, including testifying at Stanford’s trial.

In addition, the judge noted that Davis prepared to testify against Laura Pendergest-Holt, Stanford’s chief investment officer, who eventually pleaded guilty and jailed for three years.

Stanford is currently serving 110 years in prison, respectively, while two other former employees are in federal custody and await sentencing, scheduled for February 14.

As part of his 2009 guilty plea, Davis admitted that he was aware of Stanford’s misuse of SIB’s assets, kept the misuse hidden from the public and from almost all of Stanford’s other employees and worked to prevent the misuse from being discovered.

In addition, Davis acknowledged that in January 2009, when the SEC sought testimony and documents related to SIB’s entire investment portfolio, he conspired with others in an effort to impede the SEC’s investigation and help SIB continue operating.