The receiver for jailed Texas financier Allen Stanford’s assets has sought approval from a United States (US) federal judge for interim payment to swindled investors.

In a filing in a federal district court, Ralph Janvey, the court-appointed receiver, asked Judge David Godbey for his permission to pay more than 17,000 investors an initial distribution of US$55 million. If approved, Janvey says investors swindled by Stanford may receive an interim distribution payment worth a penny on the dollar of their losses.

The sum represents about one per cent of the US$5.1 billion investors lost on bogus certificates of deposit at Antigua-based Stanford International Bank Ltd (SIB), according to Janvey’s filing.

Stanford, who is 62 years old, was convicted in March last year of swindling more than US$2 billion from depositors at his Antigua bank to finance a lavish personal lifestyle of private jets, yachts and mansions. He is serving a 110-year US federal prison sentence in Florida, as he appeals his conviction and sentence.