US financier and cricket mogul Allen Stanford was sentenced to 110 years in jail for a $US7 billion ($A7.01 billion) Ponzi scheme, closing the book on the flamboyant ex-tycoon's stunning fall from grace.
"This is one of the most egregious frauds ever presented to a trial jury in federal court," Judge David Hittner said in handing down the lengthy sentence on Thursday.
Stanford, 62, has spent the past three years in jail after being deemed a flight risk. He will likely never taste freedom again.
The sentence will bring some satisfaction - but likely little financial relief - to some 30,000 investors from more than 100 countries who were bilked by bogus investments with Stanford International Bank.
Investigators could not find 92 per cent of the $8 billion the bank said it had in assets and cash reserves.
Jaime Escalona, who represents victims from Latin America, told Stanford he "took advantage of the trust that is placed in US companies and caused losses that prevented families from being able to pay for medical and basic living expenses."
Hittner ordered Stanford to serve the bulk of his penalties consecutively rather than concurrently, which means he will die in jail if he is unable to overturn the conviction at appeal or obtain a pardon.
The judge also imposed a $5.9 billion "personal money judgment" ordering Stanford to repay his criminal proceeds, but found it "impractical" to issue a restitution order, prosecutors said.
They also insisted the bulk of investor money was lost due to mismanagement by court-appointed receivers after the US government seized the bank.
Prosecutors said Stanford funded his lavish lifestyle by siphoning off $2 billion in investor deposits while pushing "bogus" certificates of deposits that promised artificially high returns based on "safe" investments.
Jurors found the mustachioed Texan guilty of 13 of 14 counts of fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and obstruction of justice in March.
A dual citizen of the United States and the Caribbean country of Antigua and Barbuda, Stanford was known for his largesse, especially on the two paradise islands.
He received a knighthood in 2006 from Antigua, where he was the largest employer, and rose to global prominence in 2008 by creating the Stanford 20/20 cricket tournament, which captured a television audience of 300 million.
His personal fiefdom soon began to crumble when it attracted scrutiny from financial regulators.
Stanford was charged by the US Securities and Exchange Commission with fraud in February 2009 and arrested a few months later at his girlfriend's home in the eastern state of Virginia.
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