Libya invested at least $500m with Stanford

The Libyan government invested at least $500m with Sir Allen Stanford, the Texas businessman accused by the US government of operating a $7bn Ponzi scheme, court documents filed on Tuesday show.

Sir Allen, accompanied by his girlfriend Andrea Stoelker, flew to Tripoli in a private jet on January 25 this year to meet government officials, including Mohamed Layas, identified in the documents as the chief executive of the Libyan Investment Authority.

At the time the Libyan government had invested $500m with Sir Allen and his companies, the documents showed, although they did not say in what form or when.