A US judge sentenced three former British bankers, known as the "NatWest 3", to three years and one month each in prison yesterday for their role in an Enron-related fraud case.
David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew and Giles Darby received their sentences from US District Judge Ewing Werlein jnr.
Prosecutors had accused the men of conspiring with former Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow to defraud National Westminster Bank (NatWest), of $19 million, dividing $7 million among themselves.
In November, Bermingham, Darby and Mulgrew each pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, which carried a maximum penalty of five years in prison. But under a plea agreement with US prosecutors, the former bankers agreed to serve a sentence of 37 months.
Judge Werlein called the penalty "appropriate" and said the men would have to work to redeem the respect of their colleagues and families by "paying back every dollar or, over there, every pound".
"I'm fully prepared to accept the consequences of my actions," Darby told the court, after noting that seven years had passed since the fraud.
The group has asked to serve their terms in Britain, to which the US government has no objections. The transfer could take as long as nine months and they must first be assigned to a US prison.
The judge said they may remain free until a surrender date to be determined by the federal bureau of prisons.
Darby's Houston attorney, Dick DeGuerin, called the men victims of the unethical activity at Enron that led to its collapse.
"Andy Fastow and the culture of greed at Enron corrupted everyone and everything it came in contact with," DeGuerin said after the sentencing. The men "are as much victims as anybody".
Bermingham, Darby and Mulgrew, former employees of Greenwich NatWest, a division of National Westminster Bank, were indicted in 2002 and arrested in 2004.
After losing a lengthy extradition fight, the men were sent to the United States in July 2006 where they have been free on bond and living in the Houston area as ordered by the court.
"I'm just very glad this is over now," Bermingham told reporters after the hearing. "It's been a difficult time," he said, adding he is looking forward to going home to be with his family.
As part of their plea deal, the men had agreed to pay $7.35 million in restitution to Royal Bank of Scotland, which now owns NatWest.
Enron, the world's largest energy trader before its December 2001 collapse, filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors after investors learned it used off-balance-sheet deals to hide billions of dollars of debt.
The meltdown, the second largest bankruptcy in US history, sparked a series of shareholder lawsuits and criminal charges against the company and management.
