Ohio execs sentenced for $1.9B fraud

[951-Riverside]

Source: The Associated Press

A federal judge on Wednesday handed down the first sentences to defendants convicted in a $1.9 billion corporate fraud case that federal prosecutors compared to the Enron or WorldCom scandals.

U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley sentenced Donald Ayers, a former chief operating officer with National Century Financial Enterprises, to 15 years in prison for his role in the fraud. Randolph Speer, the company's former chief financial officer, received a 12-year sentence.

The sentences were long enough to punish the men, to deter others from committing similar crimes in the future and to respect the law, Marbley said.

Marbley also ordered the men to repay billions of dollars to investors, along with three other co-defendants yet to be sentenced.

Speer, 57, of Peachtree City, Ga., and Ayers, 72, of Fort Myers, Fla., were among five former executives with National Century convicted in March of defrauding investors over several years. The men said they were innocent and their lawyers argued the government had shown only a fraction of the company's activities in making their fraud case.

Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/06/america/National-Century-Sentencing.php

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. I was expecting 5 years. 12/15 is fair. nt

[valerief]

2. Big money. I smell a Bush pardon. nt

[Faygo Kid]

6. Yep. my first thought exactly. If they were Bushies, they walk.

I have little doubt as to what is coming.

[saigon68]

8. I'M sure a large "DONATION" to the Chimp Presidential Library

Will open the prison doors and lead to a round of Drinks in tropical St Thomas at a $2,000.00 a day condo

Just ask criminal Rick Hendrick of Charlotte, North Carolina.

[DCKit]

3. Damn activist judges. n/t

[Doctor Cynic]

4. If this were China they'd be immediately put in a lethal injection van.

[Crabby Appleton]

5. Fucking scumbags. nt

[Joanne98]

7. YAY

[rasputin1952]

9. Nice to see some semblance of justice...nice touch where

they have to repay the cash too...if they have it...most likely spent on absurd crap. Too bad they couldn't take any interest money and use it to pay for heating oil for the elderly or dump it into Food Banks or some other charitable cause.