The day after his indictment in the Stanford financial scandal, Tom Raffanello surrendered to federal agents and found himself in court -- bound in handcuffs -- next to defendants charged with crimes he spent a lifetime fighting.

The appearance of the former chief of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Miami office on Friday represented a new development in a case that has so far centered largely on offshore banks and scammed investors.

After months of probing billionaire Allen Stanford and his top lieutenants, prosecutors say they now want to find out why thousands of records were shredded during a crucial period in the government's investigation.

Raffanello -- who joined Stanford's security force after retiring in 2004 -- is accused of ordering the records destroyed six days after federal agents shut down Stanford's worldwide operations in February.

Appearing in federal court in Fort Lauderdale with defendants from other cases -- including seven suspected drug traffickers -- the former DEA chief posted a $100,000 bond and agreed to turn over his passport.

PREPARED TO FIGHT

Along with former co-worker Bruce Perraud, Raffanello will be arraigned Sept. 18 before Magistrate Judge Robin Rosenbaum.

The muscular 61-year-old New York native said he is prepared to fight the government's charges that he permanently destroyed records created during the years he worked for one of the world's wealthiest bankers.

The paperwork -- stored in the company's security office on the fringes of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport -- were copies of electronic records readily available to prosecutors, said Raffanello, who traveled the hemisphere responding to company crises.

``We kept everything on electronic files,'' he said. ``I told them that I ordered [Bruce Perraud] to destroy the paper records because we had duplicates.''

The case is expected to center around whether Raffanello and his employee hampered the government's probe of Stanford and his top officers, who are charged in what prosecutors are calling a $7 billion Ponzi scheme. Shortly after federal agents announced the case against Stanford, Raffanello and Perraud exchanged e-mails acknowledging a judge's order to keep all company records intact, court records state.

But less than a week later, Raffanello called an employee and ordered the destruction of thousands of paper records, the indictment states.

SHREDDING TRUCK

On Feb. 25, with Perraud supervising the effort, a shredding truck arrived and hauled away all the office's paperwork -- including files brought from several employees' cars, the indictment says.

Miami lawyer Kendall Coffey, who represents Raffanello, called the government's claims a ``huge mistake,'' and said the employees were ``taking out the trash'' as part of routine housekeeping.

Perraud's lawyer Ed Shohat said in addition to being duplicates, the paperwork at the office was not related to Stanford's financial operation.

``It was a security office that had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the issues the SEC was investigating,'' Shohat said. ``This office maintained none of those records.''

During the bond hearing Friday, prosecutor Jack Patrick said investigators were prepared to turn over 5,000 documents supporting the charges. He said the records could be ready as early as Monday. For most of the hearing, Raffanello sat in the jury box with seven other defendants accused of a cocaine trafficking and robbery ring.

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