The plot is straight out of Dallas, incorporating fraud and the glamour of locations like Antigua and the Caribbean, so it is only fitting that Allen Stanford resembles the stereotypical 1980s Texan ten-gallon wearing, moustachioed  tycoon.

But in a bizarre twist, that surely not even the people that brought Bobby Ewing back from the dead could have dreamt up, The Evening Standard is reporting that Stanford’s multi-billion empire can be traced back to a terraced house in Enfield, North London. Sorry, what was I saying about glamourous locations?

Apparently Sir Allen used a little-known accountancy firm called CAS Hewlett, which was originally run from Antigua, to check the books of Stanford International Bank of Antigua.

The bank is just one part of Stanford International, the global company that had its Houston headquarters raided by the FBI over a suspected $8 billion fraud.

The raid saw Stanford, who was arrested, fall from the plinth of cricket playboy with the gold-leaf trimmed helicopter who bankrolled $20 million matches and into the sewer with Bernie Madoff – suspected architect of a $50 billion ponzi scheme.

And parallels between Stanford and Madoff have been easily drawn. Stanford’s company sold high-yield deposits in a worldwide scheme, offering returns of 7.03% last year when most US banks were offering 4%. Business Week has a good rundown of the alleged investment scams that have come to their knees as the markets fall.

In fact Stanford may have Madoff to thank for drawing the Securities and Exchange Commission attention to the phenomenally high yields. According to an article in The Times he also has Madoff to thank for personally losing him a load of money.

But Madoff isn’t all to blame, there were plenty of Stanford whistleblowers around before his ponzi scheme was blown apart.