The lawyer acting for Sir Allen Stanford, the Texas billionaire who is facing civil fraud charges, says his client tried and failed to turn himself in, according to media reports.

“There are all these rumours flying around about an indictment coming soon. We want the authorities to know that Allen Stanford is going to stand and fight, he’s not going to run," Dick DeGuerin was quoted as saying.

The pair went to the federal courthouse in Houston, Texas, but the authorities would not take Sir Allen into custody, Mr DeGuerin is reported as saying, because there is no warrant out for him.

Mr DeGuerin also indicated that a similar exercise will be carried out next week.

The allegations against Sir Allen came to light soon after the financial world was rocked by revelations of the $50 billion Ponzi scheme fraud carried out by US investment figure Bernard Madoff. The saga has already prompted the wealth management industry to call for stronger due diligence checks on investment.