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NatWest Three get 37 months

A US federal judge on Friday sentenced the former British bankers dubbed the NatWest Three to 37 months in jail for fraud related to the scandal-ruined energy trading firm Enron.

Giles Darby, David Bermingham and Gary Mulgrew pleaded guilty in November to conspiring with former Enron finance chief Andrew Fastow to bilk NatWest, now a unit of the Royal Bank of Scotland, of more than US$7.3 million.

According to their signed plea deal, they advised NatWest to dispose of an obscure Enron-related offshore company for less than it was worth and then, with Fastow's help, bought the stake and flipped it for a handsome profit.

The three Britons were released on bond until a date is set for them to report to prison. They told the court in Houston they would ask to serve their sentences in Britain where, unlike in the US, they would be eligible for parole.

Darby and Bermingham will be required to pay US$500,000 and Mulgrew must pay US$250,000 upon reporting to prison.

This will be a first installment against an order to forfeit the US$7.3 million stolen.

In handing down the sentence, Judge Ewing Werlein said the men should try to "redeem" the respect shown in letters of support sent to the court by paying back "every dollar or every pound" stolen.

He also wished them well and said "I'm confident you will never be before this court again."

Mulgrew apologized and said he "exercised poor judgment and showed a lack of integrity."

Birmingham said "I have no one to blame but myself" and apologized to his family before thanking the court and the city of Houston for their kindness.

Darby said he was "fully prepared to accept the consequences of my actions," adding, "I deeply regret my involvement in this whole affair."

The 2002 indictment against the NatWest Three was widely seen as the heat necessary to get Fastow and his deputy Michael Kopper to work with federal investigators.

But while Enron executives became a symbol of greed and corporate malfeasance, the Natwest Three became a cause celebre after proclaiming their innocence and launching a protracted battle against their extradition to the US, saying they should have been tried in Britain, as the alleged fraud took place there against a British bank.

Then-British prime minister Tony Blair's government came under intense political pressure because the US-British extradition treaty -- originally intended for terrorism suspects -- had not yet been ratified by the US Congress.

It was eventually ratified after lobbying from British officials.

Since arriving in Houston in July 2006, the NatWest Three have been free on bail, living in rented apartments and wearing electronic monitoring devices.

They were barred from associating with each other without a lawyer present until they reached their plea deal with federal prosecutors in November.

The defendants repeatedly complained in court papers that they could not mount an adequate defense when all the witnesses and documents they required were in Britain.

Thousands of people in the US lost their jobs and life savings when Enron collapsed in late 2001 with an estimated US$40 billion in debt, hidden through financial deals and often kept off the books of the Houston-based energy trading group.

The scandal undermined faith in corporate America and led to a massive stock-market sell-off.
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