Two days after being accused of massive fraud, billionaire R Allen Stanford surfaced in a Virginia community about 50 miles south of Washington, USA.

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said that FBI agents, acting at the request of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), had served the papers on Stanford in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He was described as cooperative and cordial. The SEC needed to serve the papers to ensure that he turned in his passport and was made aware of the proceedings against him

Stanford, accused by the SEC this week of running a ''massive, ongoing fraud,'' was served with papers related to an SEC civil filing against him and the Stanford Financial Group. Stanford, whose whereabouts were unknown to the SEC earlier in the week, was found with an unidentified woman. The SEC sued Stanford and two aides on 17 February, accusing them of misleading investors about $8 billion in certificates of deposit in Antigua-based Stanford International Bank.

The Texan cricket impresario is accused of luring investors with promises of improbable and unsubstantiated high returns on certificates of deposit and other investments. Stanford International Bank reported ''improbable, if not impossible'' returns, the SEC said in its complaint.

The SEC has been investigating Stanford Group since at least last summer. The inquiry intensified after the December arrest of New York money manager Bernard Madoff, who allegedly confessed to masterminding a $50 billion fraud in which early investors were promised steady returns and paid with money from later participants. (See: Former NASDAQ chairman charged with $50-billion securities fraud)

Stanford Group, selling the certificates of deposit through a network of financial advisers, told clients their funds would be placed mainly in easily sellable financial instruments, monitored by more than 20 analysts and audited by regulators on the Caribbean nation of Antigua, the SEC said.

Instead, the ''vast majority'' of the portfolio was managed by Allen Stanford and Davis, according to the SEC. A ''substantial'' part of the portfolio was invested in private equity and real estate, it said.

Earlier, Peru and Venezuela became the latest countries to intervene in local banks controlled by the Stanford group. Peru's securities regulator suspended local operations of the Stanford Financial Group for 30 days and Venezuela said it would take control of Stanford Bank Venezuela. Panama, Ecuador and Antigua also took action after the accusations against Sir Allen were reported. (See: Five LatAm countries crack down on Stanford)

Regulators were hoping to calm customers worried about investments as queues of worried investors have formed at banks associated with him in the US, the Caribbean and Latin America. (See: A run on Stanford's Antiguan bank as US authorities cry fraud)