Legal News

Enron?s NatWest Three Hoping to Head East to Serve Time

By Dan Slater

The curtains are closing on the corporate-law drama of the ages. And three of its final players, we discovered this afternoon, are poised to exit the stage. The NatWest three — the trio of British bankers who were extradited to the U.S. in mid-2006 and have since been, uh, enjoying Houston — received their sentencing today. David Bermingham, Giles Darby and Gary Mulgrew (pictured) will each serve 37 months. Here’s the early AP report, and a report from the Houston Chron.

The Three — who were charged with colluding with ex-Enron CFO Andy Fastow and his lieutenant Michael Kopper to steal money from their former employer, Greenwich NatWest, now part of RBS — changed their plea from not-guilty to guilty back in November. After claiming initially that they did not collude with Fastow, the Three signed a plea agreement, each pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud.

According to reports, their sentences matched the recommendation of prosecutors, although federal sentencing guidelines recommended 41 months to 51 months. They will also repay the $7.3 million they gained from the scheme.

At the Three’s request, Werlein is recommending they do their time at Allenwood, a federal prison complex in White Deer, Pa. They’ll reportedely serve six months to a year in U.S. prison before being transferred back to a British prison. (Fastow is serving a six-year term at Oakdale, in Louisiana, while Kopper is serving 37 months at Texarkana, in Northeast Texas.)

“These men just want to put this behind them,” said Dick DeGuerin, Darby’s lawyer. (DeGuerin’s also representing federal judge Samuel Kent, who is under investigation over allegations he sexually harassed a female employee.) DeGuerin added: “Andy Fastow and the culture of greed at Enron corrupted everyone and everything it came in contact with. These guys are victims as much as anyone else.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 22, 2008 (boomark / email).