Bankers face three-year prison term
Fraud lawyers Irwin Mitchell comment on Natwest three
03/12/2007
Three British bankers are each set to serve a 37-month jail term after pleading guilty in the US to a £3.5m fraud. The men who were called the Natwest Three, who fought a high profile extradition from the UK to the US, entered a guilty plea after reaching agreement with US prosecutors.
Under the agreement, they would each serve a 37 month sentence and would pay the £3.5m they gained from the alleged fraud back to NatWest's successor, the Royal Bank of Scotland.
If the agreement is accepted by the judge, prosecutors have said they will support the three's wish to serve some of their prison term in the UK.
The US district court in Houston, Texas, heard that the three men committed the fraud by convincing individuals at NatWest to sell part of a firm owned by the collapsed US giant Enron for less than it was worth.
Fraud Solicitor Sarah Wallace
They then left Natwest and bought a stake in the firm, making £3.5m in profit. Sarah Wallace from Irwin Mitchell Solicitors commented: “This high profile case underlines the modern day reality that senior managers and executives are at increasing at risk of extradition, prosecution and conviction in the US for fraud and financial crime offences, possibly in circumstances where the UK authorities could have decided to undertake their own investigation and prosecution.
"Unlike the UK, the US criminal justice system relies more heavily on plea bargaining, although generally sentencing in the US is more draconian for fraud related offences than in UK.
"Individuals and firms involved in business, banking and finance are advised to take steps to ensure that their internal systems and controls reduce the risk of financial crime. Fraud investigations are sophisticated multi-jurisdictional operations undertaken by law enforcement agencies and regulators.
"Many individuals would not wish to be at risk of detention or prosecution in a foreign jurisdiction although the numbers of British nationals who may be liable for extradition to the US is likely to increase.