It's been a while since we've heard from our Stanford friends. Here's the latest from the Associated Press, regarding company employees in Antigua getting the boot:

Receivers appointed by an Antiguan regulatory body said Thursday that dozens of employees of Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford’s tropical empire have been dismissed to slash costs as it deals with the fallout of an alleged offshore investment fraud.

Nigel Hamilton-Smith, a representative of a British firm appointed as receiver by Antigua’s banking regulatory commission, said 77 workers of ailing Stanford International Bank Ltd. and Stanford Trust Company Ltd. were sent home Wednesday.

“Unfortunately, we have had to reduce staff levels,” said Hamilton-Smith of Vantis Business Recovery Services. “The operations of both companies have been significantly scaled back to deal solely with investor inquiries.”

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit in February accusing Stanford and his top  officers of running a massive pyramid scheme that defrauded investors of about $8 billion.

Stanford has denied the allegations. In an ABC interview that aired earlier this month, he denied running a Ponzi scheme and said he has the assets to back up his businesses.

Antigua’s banking regulatory commission said it appointed the British firm as receiver to protect “the reputation and integrity” of its banking sector. Officials here have said they hope to keep the embattled billionaire’s Antigua businesses in operation.

Stanford’s Antigua enterprises also include a newspaper, two restaurants, a development company and the ornately landscaped Stanford cricket grounds, where he shook up the staid world of professional cricket last year by bankrolling the purse in a $20 million winner-take-all match.

Stanford Development Company laid off more than 30 workers in Antigua last week.