NatWest three agree to 37 months’ jail plea

Former NatWest bankers David Bermingham, Giles Darby and Gary Mulgrew, each pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in Houston federal court today, five years after they were first charged with stealing $US7m (£3.4m) in an under-the-table deal designed by Andrew Fastow, former Enron chief financial officer, who has since been convicted and jailed for fraud.

The trio’s guilty plea was in return for a prison-sentence of three years and one month – more than triple the hoped-for ‘best-case scenario’ of a one-year jail sentence – plus a repayment of $US7.3m to Royal Bank of Scotland, of which NatWest is now a unit.

In a 45-minute hearing, the three men, who had always protested their innocence, appeared before district judge Ewing Werlein. He asked each in turn for their plea, to which Bermingham replied: ‘Guilty, sir’ and his two former NatWest colleagues echoed: ‘Guilty, your honour’, The Guardian reports.

‘They just realised it was the right thing to do in the right circumstances – to get this done, to get it behind them and to move on with their lives,’ defence counsel Dan Cogdell said outside court.

Justice Werlein must still agree to accept the plea agreement. Cogdell said the men would apply for a prisoner exchange programme in the hope of spending their sentences in a British jail.

Further reading:

US-quoted companies urge reconciliation shift

Banks accused by Fastow

Read story in The Guardian