Three Former British Bankers Plead Guilty to Wire Fraud in Enron Case

According to a recent press release by the United States Department of Justice, the Enron case continues. Today, November 28, three former British bankers plead guilty to wire fraud related to the Enron case.

The three bankers were part of the British bank National Westminster Bank Plc, and took part in a secret investment with the Enron Corporation through wire fraud. This guilty plea was announced today by the Criminal Division Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher.

The case took place today at the United States District Court located in Houston, Texas under the Judge Ewing Werlein. The three former bankers, all from Great Britain, include Giles Robert Hugh Darby, David Bermingham, and Gary Steven Mulgrew. With the plea deal, all three bankers agreed to repay $7.3 million to the Royal Bank of Scotland, which is the bank that succeeded to Nat West, as well as serve a 37- month prison sentence.

With the plea deal, the former bankers admitted to a secret deal that had taken place with Michael Kopper, whom was Enron's former managing director of global finance, along with Enron's former chief financial officer, Andrew Fastow. The secret investments who totaled $250,000 were completed by many options and off-shore entities during financial transactions. This was all done in order to obtain an ownership interest.

"These three defendants admitted today that they defrauded Nat West by entering into a secret and illegal deal with officers from Enron -- a deal that yielded millions in profits for them personally at the expense of their employer," said Assistant Attorney General Fisher. "Thanks to the hard work of the federal prosecutors from the Criminal Division and agents from the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, these defendants are being held accountable for their actions in a U.S. court of law."

"Today's guilty pleas demonstrate that the extent of the fraud at Enron went well beyond U.S. borders," said Assistant Director Kenneth Kaiser, FBI Criminal Investigative Division. "The FBI remains committed to bringing to justice those responsible for corporate fraud, no matter where our search may lead."

These charges were first brought apart to each of the three bankers in July of 2002 by a team of agents that were put together in order to investigate the collapse of the Enron Corporation. This task force was known as the Enron Task Force. This case was put together by Jonathan E. Lopez and Wes R. Porter, Fraud Section of the Criminal Division Trial Attorneys.

SOURCE
U.S. Department of JUSTICE