Accused billionaire financier had local offices

Prosecutors are getting ready to make their case against Allen Stanford. The billionaire is accused of promising investors big returns on safe bets, then pocketing their money.

Friday morning the Texas-based financier arrived at a Virginia courthouse in federal custody. He turned himself in to the FBI late Thursday after being formally charged in an $8 billion fraud scheme. The charges come from a Houston grand jury investigating Stanford and his Stanford Financial Group.

Stanford is accused of using investor money to build a sprawling financial empire, including six airplanes, offices around the world and homes in Antigua and the Virgin Islands.

Stanford's company had four offices in Florida, including one in Boca Raton, and another in Vero Beach. Federal regulators shuttered the offices earlier this year, when the SEC sued Stanford, alleging he paid returns to clients with money from later investors-- a Ponzi scheme a lot like Bernard Madoff's scam.

Representatives of a Boca Raton law firm tell CBS 12 they represent at least three people who had money with both Madoff and Stanford. The law firm says the people had their Stanford money frozen for a few weeks, but ultimately regained access to money.

At the time the SEC shut him down, Stanford vowed to fight the accusations. He reportedly still insists he did nothing wrong.