Former Citibank Head Sentenced To 15 Months in Prison
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
The former head of Citibank N.A.’s commodities trading desk was sentenced to 15 months in prison yesterday after pleading guilty to conspiracy last year in connection with a scheme to inflate trading profits by as much as $20 million.
At a hearing in federal court in Manhattan, U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein also ordered David Becker to pay $200,000 in restitution and a $25,000 fine. The prison term will be followed by two years supervised release.
“He accepts full responsibility for what he has done. He’s prepared to make appropriate restitution to Citigroup,” Becker’s lawyer, Ira Lee Sorkin, said prior to sentencing. “David Becker’s never going to find himself in this situation again.”
Becker pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to falsify bank records and to commit wire fraud last September. He had faced 18 months to 24 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.
He is scheduled to begin serving his sentence on May 2.
