Like seemingly everyone else on Earth, Craig Penzler didn’t know where suspected-of-fraud financier Allen Stanford was these days, until FBI agents found the man Thursday in Virginia.

But Penzler, a Lawrence architect, had been hearing plenty about the mounting investigations facing the billionaire known as “Sir Allen.”

“I think everybody is running clear and staying clear until they know what’s going on,” said Penzler, in a phone interview from Delhi, India, where Penzler is helping set up sports venues for next year’s Commonwealth Games.

Penzler isn’t personally familiar with Stanford — “I’ve never met the man,” Penzler said — but the owner of CPenzlerSports LLC is familiar with the financier’s work.

Stanford is known in cricket circles for, among other things, establishing his own $20 million, winner-take-all competition. Penzler, meanwhile, has helped set up cricket venues in the Caribbean for the sport’s world championships.

This week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sought out Stanford to learn what has become of an estimated $8 billion that his Houston-based firm had generated through offerings of certificates of deposit with suspiciously generous returns.