From Clusterstock:

From the very beginning of the Allen Stanford scandal, there's been speculation of his playing some role in the drug trade, and talk that he may have been some kind of US government asset.

That's been confirmed by the BBC:

Secret documents seen by Panorama (BBC) show both governments knew in 1990 that the Texan was a former bankrupt and his first bank was suspected of involvement with Latin American money-launderers.

...Sources close to the DEA believe he worked with the agency, turning over details of money-laundering from Latin American clients from Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela and Ecuador, effectively guaranteeing himself a decade's worth of "protection" from the authorities, especially the SEC.

Read full article...

More on other alleged Ponzis:

Bigger than Citigroup and BofA: The Ponzi scheme CNBC should be investigating...

Madoff employee breaks silence

Madoff has nothing on the real estate ponzi scheme