A former official of energy giant Dynegy has been sentenced to 24 years and 4 months in prison by a US court for accounts irregularities.
Thirty-six-year-old Jamie Olis, former vice president of finance at Dynegy Inc, is obliged to serve nearly all of his sentence as there is no parole in the federal system.
Maximum time off for good behaviour could reduce his time served to closer to 20 years.
"I take no pleasure in sentencing you to 292 months," US District Judge in Houston, Sim Lake, said.
"Sometimes good people commit bad acts, and that is what happened in this case."
The punishment "reflects Congress's intent that white-collar corporate fraud defendants receive harsh sentences," the judge observed.
Olis went to trial and was convicted instead of trying to plead guilty and become a cooperating witness.
The maximum possible sentence was 35 years for one count each of conspiracy, security fraud and mail fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
The case highlighted the way the Congress and the government are cracking down on the multibillion-dollar corporate frauds which are undermining faith in the American economic system.
Judge Lake's courtroom was packed with Olis' supporters wearing yellow ribbons. Among them were his wife, Monica, and the couple's 6-month-old daughter. Many, including Olie himself, quietly wept after the Judge announced his decision.
"I wish to thank all of our longtime supporters," Olis said after Judge Lake gave him a chance to address the court. "It means a lot to us."
Olis is paying the penalty for a 2001 deal that wrongly boosted cash flow because Dynegy, like other energy merchants, was besieged by months of bad news in the aftermath of Enron's collapse in December 2001.
Olis' attorneys said he wants to serve at a facility where Enron's former treasurer, Ben F Glison Jr, is serving a 5-year term after pleading guilty to conspiracy.
Olis was charged in June along with two co-conspirators -- his former boss, Gene Shannon Foster, and a former company accountant, Helen Christine Sharkey. Foster and Sharkey each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy in August, and Foster testified against Olis in his November trial.
Foster said he, Olis and Sharkey were part of a large group that crafted and approved a natural gas deal dubbed Project Alpha in response to analyst concerns in 2000 that cash flow lagged behind recorded earnings from the trading unit implemented in April 2001, Alpha improperly boosted cash flow by $300 million and cut taxes by $79 million.
Alpha was not Dynegy's only problem, The Washington Post noted. Shares began sliding when Dynegy's ill-fated buyout of Enron crumbled in November 2001, days before Enron filed for bankruptcy. They fell below a dollar by Oct 2002, after Dynegy ousted management, laid off workers and scrapped money-losing ventures to counteract fleeing investors.
Foster and Sharkey each faces up to five years in prison but both are cooperating with prosecutors and probably will receive lesser sentences, said the Post. Olis declined to cut a deal, choosing to face a jury that returned a guilty verdict after less than two hours of deliberation.
