UK fraudster bemoans US plea bargain system

Britons extradited to the United States have no chance of being cleared as the plea bargaining system empowers prosecutors as “judge, jury and executioner”, one of the “Natwest Three” said yesterday.

David Bermingham, who was one of three bankers jailed for 37 months over an Enron-related fraud in a deal with US prosecutors in 2008, said no sane defendant would risk years in jail when a plea bargain could enable them to be home within months.

Plea bargaining is common in the US, with defendants often able to secure a more lenient sentence if they admit an offence and co-operate with prosecutors, rather than contest the charges in a trial.

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But the system, and the pressure it places on defendants, leaves those extradited to the US from the UK with little choice but to accept a deal if they want to return to their families at home, said Bermingham, who was jailed along with fellow bankers Giles Darby and Gary Mulgrew, son of former West Renfrewshire Labour MSP Trish Godman.

“A prosecutor can now effectively be judge, jury and executioner,” he said.

“A prosecutor can threaten a defendant with the rest of his life in prison. However, if you are willing to plead guilty, 30 years becomes five years.

“If you are then co-operating and willing to give evidence against others, five years becomes two.”

Bermingham spoke out as his book, A Price To Pay, was published as retired British businessman Christopher Tappin is held at the Otero County detention centre in New Mexico awaiting trial over arms dealing charges in El Paso, Texas.

Gary McKinnon, the Scottish computer hacker accused of targeting the Pentagon, is also awaiting extradition to the US.