Cricket mogul Stanford sent to US prison hospital

Financier and cricket mogul Allen Stanford was sent to a US prison hospital for drug addiction treatment, officials said Tuesday. The decision was taken so he can be fit to stand trial on charges of running a $7 billion fraud.

The flamboyant Texan was declared incompetent to stand trial last month after government psychiatrists and Stanford's team testified that he was suffering from bouts of delirium linked to his dependency on powerful anti-anxiety medication.

The 60-year-old was apparently also depressed due to a brain injury he sustained during a 2009 jailhouse brawl, and recommended he be weaned off the drug.

US District Judge David Hittner recommended that Stanford be sent to a medical centre at a federal prison in Butner, North Carolina.

Stanford has pleaded not guilty to 21 counts of fraud, money laundering and obstruction. He faces up to 375 years in jail if convicted.

Stanford hit international sports headlines by creating the eponymous Stanford Super Series Twenty20 cricket competition.