Informal Agreement to Not Oppose Prisoner Transfer Behind NatWest Three Plea

On November 27, 2007, the so-called “Natwest Three” reached an agreement to enter into a plea. The informal agreement that the U.S. government would not oppose their applications to transfer to the U.K. to serve their sentences played a significant role. David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew, and Giles Darby agreed as part of a plea agreement to plead to conspiring with Enron’s chief financial officer, Andrew S. Fastow, to enrich themselves at the expense of the National Westminster Bank of England, which at the time was their employer and now is owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS); to serve three years and one month in jail; and to pay $7.3 million to RBS, the victim of the fraud. The three were indicted on seven counts of wire fraud in 2002, and a jury trial was set for January. They faced 35 years in prison...[more]