Allen Stanford, the Texas billionaire who is suspected to have committed a huge fraud surrounding deposit certificates, has surrendered to US FBI agents.

The chairman of the Stanford Financial Group, based on the Caribbean island of Antigua, gave himself up in Virginia on Thursday, Dick DeGuerin, his attorney said.

"He surrendered," DeGuerin said after speaking with Stanford, 59, who is expected to face criminal charges on Friday morning in Virginia.

"He's in FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] custody."

Stanford had been staying with his girlfriend in Fredericksburg, about 80km south of Washington, when FBI agents arrived on Thursday, DeGuerin said.

Stanford walked outside and spoke to the agents, saying that if they had a warrant they should arrest him and that he was going to hand himself in on his return to Houston if they didn't.

The justice department and FBI declined to comment

The golf and cricket promoter was handed civil charges earlier this year by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the alleged fraudulent sale of $8bn in certificates of deposit with unusually high returns.