HOUSTON (AP) - A judge has sentenced the star prosecution witness in the trial of convicted Texas financier R. Allen Stanford to 5 years in prison for bilking investors out of more than $7 billion in one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in U.S. history.

James M. Davis was sentenced in Houston federal court Tuesday. He had faced up to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2009 to three fraud and conspiracy charges.

Prosecutors say Stanford persuaded investors to buy certificates of deposit from his Caribbean bank, then used that money to bankroll a string of failed businesses and his own lavish lifestyle.

Davis is the former finance chief for Stanford's various companies. He testified that he and Stanford faked the bank's profits and fabricated documents to hide the fraud.

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