Oil-for-Food Tycoon Pleads Guilty

Octogenarian Wyatt faces 18 to 24 months, will return $11M
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 1, 2007 5:00 PM CDT
Oil-for-Food Tycoon Pleads Guilty
Oscar S. Wyatt Jr. , 83, founder and former chairman of Coastal Corp. enters Manhattan federal court with his wife Lynn for the second week of his trial, Monday, Sept. 17, 2007, in New York. Wyatt Jr. is accused of paying millions of dollars to Iraqi officials to illegally secure oil contracts from...   (Associated Press)

Oil magnate Oscar Wyatt pleaded guilty to conspiracy today, ending his trial on federal charges that he paid Saddam Hussein's government millions to secure oil supply deals in  the UN oil-for-food program scandal. The 83-year-old Wyatt will serve 18 to 24 months in prison and give up $11 million, Reuters reports.

"The quicker I get it over with the better," said Wyatt, who will no longer face the other four charges against him. He is the seventh person involved in the scandal to be convicted, although 2,200 companies were implicated in a UN inquiry. Wyatt faced copious evidence, including a recording of an incriminating phone call with Saddam. (More Iraq oil stories.)

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