HOUSTON (AP) – R. Allen Stanford, accused by federal regulators in a civil complaint of running an $8 billion investment fraud, tried to turn himself in to federal marshals in Houston on Thursday, but they didn’t take him into custody because no warrant has been issued for him.

The Houston Chronicle reported in its online edition that Stanford and his lawyer marched the few blocks from attorney Dick DeGuerin’s office to the federal courthouse to “surrender.”

“We’re doing this to show he’s not running,” DeGuerin said. “He’ll face whatever they’ve got for him.”

The Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Stanford of running a Ponzi scheme.

Stanford’s companies, based in Houston, were shut down and placed in receivership in February when the SEC filed a civil fraud suit in court in Dallas. The SEC alleges investors in certificates of deposits were paid with proceeds obtained from new investors.

Stanford has denied the allegations and said if there was fraud, he wasn’t involved in it.