LONDON (Bloomberg) — The US Securities and Exchange Commission won an order yesterday extending a freeze on the UK assets of Texas financier Allen Stanford, who is accused of running an $8 billion Ponzi scheme.

Justice Colin Mackay at the High Court in London signed an order freezing the assets until April 27.

The SEC sued Stanford on February 17 for allegedly running a "massive, ongoing fraud" through the sale of high-yield certificates of deposit by Antiguan-based Stanford International Bank.

The SEC suit claims Stanford skimmed $1.6 billion in personal loans from his companies.

David Wolfson, a lawyer representing the SEC in London, told Mackay that he had been in contact with the UK banks that held Stanford's assets, and they were "holding the fort".

No representatives for Stanford or his companies were at the hearing.