NatWest Three Receive Prison Assignments And Orders To Surrender

David Bermingham, Giles Darby and Gary Mulgrew, three British investment bankers known as the NatWest Three, were each ordered on Tuesday by US District Judge Ewing Werlein to report to prison within the next three weeks, each at a different prison.  Mulgrew was ordered to surrender to the facility in Big Spring, Texas, on April 30; Darby to the Allenwood facility in White Deer, Pennsylvania, on May 7; and Bermingham to the prison in Lompoc, California on May 9. They all asked for Allenwood at their sentencing hearing and Judge Werlein recommend it, but the Bureau of Prisons has final authority(Bloomberg).

The former Greenwich NatWest bankers were indicted on seven counts of wire fraud in 2002 in connection with a scheme devised by former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow and his right-hand man Michael Kopper. They pleaded guilty in 2007 to one count of wire fraud and were sentenced to 37 months in prison plus restitution by Judge Werlein on February 22, 2008 (earlier). Their plea agreements call for them to be eligible for transfer to the UK after several months imprisonment in the US, and under the UK system they will be eligible for parole after serving half of their sentences.