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Article: Wyatt pleads guilty to oil-for-food fraud.(Oscar Wyatt)
- Article from:
- The Oil Daily
- Article date:
- October 2, 2007
- Author:
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The trial of veteran Texas oilman Oscar Wyatt ended abruptly Monday when he pleaded guilty to paying illegal surcharges to Iraq under the UN's oil-for-food program.
In a surprise turn of events as the trial entered its fourth week, Wyatt told a federal judge in Manhattan that he paid 220,000 in kickbacks to the government of Iraq in December 2001. He agreed to plead guilty to one charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He faces 18 to 24 months in federal prison when he is sentenced Nov. 27 and will forfeit roughly $11 million.
"I didn't want to waste any more time, at 83 years old, fooling with this operation," Wyatt told reporters after the hearing ...