Ex-KBR CEO Gets 30 Months For Nigeria Scheme

The former chief executive of KBR Inc was sentenced to 30 months in prison on Thursday for his role in a massive, decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials to win $6 billion in contracts for a liquefied natural gas facility.

Albert "Jack" Stanley, 69, pleaded guilty in September 2008 in a scheme to route $182 million in bribes to Nigerian government officials. Stanley, who served at one point under former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney at Halliburton, has been awaiting sentencing after this date was reset 16 times.

"The misconduct here was serious, ongoing and deeply hurtful," U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison said before handing down Stanley's sentence, which also includes 3 years of probation.

Earlier Thursday, Ellison gave a former KBR consultant a 21-month prison sentence for acting as a middle-man to channel bribes to Nigerian officials on behalf of KBR and three other members of a Portugal-based consortium called TSKJ.

Jeffrey Tesler, 63, a consultant and lawyer, pleaded guilty almost a year ago to one count of conspiracy to violate and one count of violating the bribery law known as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

Despite fighting extradition from Britain, Tesler was sent to the United States in March 2011, where he entered a guilty plea. He faced up to five years in prison on each count and had already agreed to forfeit almost $150 million as part of his plea agreement.

On Wednesday, Judge Ellison sentenced another Briton, Wojciech Chodan, to probation for taking part in the bribery scheme when he worked at a unit of KBR. He had cooperated with the investigation.

Both Stanley and Tesler expressed remorse for their actions. Stanley said his judgement had been clouded by "ego, ambition and alcohol" and said he cooperated with the Justice Department since 2004.

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