BC-US--Stanford-Mental State,0134

Attorneys: Stanford a 'wreck of a man'

HOUSTON (AP) -- Texas financier R. Allen Stanford's attorneys say jail has reduced their client to a "wreck of a man" who is severely depressed, forgets conversations, can no longer see out of one eye and believes he is "losing his mind."

The description of Stanford's mental and physical condition is contained in a motion filed Tuesday by his attorneys in Houston. They are asking a federal judge for a third time to grant the jailed financier a bond so he can be free while awaiting trial next year on charges he bilked investors out of $7 billion as part of a massive Ponzi scheme. Two previous requests have been denied.

This latest motion was prepared with the help of the newest member of Stanford's legal team, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz.