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Jan. 2, 2008, 12:27PM
Oscar Wyatt reports to prison in Beaumont
By TOM FOWLER
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
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BEAUMONT -- Houston oilman Oscar Wyatt began his one-year prison sentence shortly before noon today when he reported to a federal prison in Beaumont.
Wyatt, 83, and his wife, Lynn, arrived in the back seat of a black sedan, with at least one of his lawyers leading the way in an SUV. After Wyatt emerged from the car and entered the prison with lawyer Carl Parker, the car carrying his wife drove away.
Wyatt pleaded guilty on Oct. 1 to a single count of conspiring to make illegal payments for Iraqi oil under the United Nations' Oil-for-Food program.
The minimum security federal prison in Beaumont, part of a federal prison complex, is the closest to Wyatt's Houston home. Beaumont is his birthplace.
U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin, who sentenced Wyatt, recommended the facility to the Bureau of Prisons.
Before Christmas Wyatt said he was prepared to serve the time.
"After spending two years in the Pacific in a tent, I don't think that will be a problem," he told the Chronicle, referring to his service as a military pilot during World War II.
The founder of Houston-based Coastal Corp., which is now owned by El Paso Corp., Wyatt was accused of funneling millions in illegal surcharges to Saddam Hussein's regime to buy Iraqi crude under the Oil-for-Food program.
The program was developed while Iraq was under international sanctions because of Saddam's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. It was intended to use Iraq's oil resources to provide much-needed food and medicine for the Iraqi populace while keeping the proceeds out of the hands of the regime.
Prosecutors said Wyatt used front companies to buy Iraqi oil and pay the surcharges into a bank account secretly controlled by the Iraqi government.
Wyatt was charged with conspiracy, wire fraud and violating U.S. laws governing dealings with Iraq.
Three weeks into his trial, he pleaded guilty as prosecutors were poised to zero in on a $200,000 surcharge payment in 2001. In his guilty plea, Wyatt acknowledged orchestrating that payment.
Wyatt has forfeited $11 million as part of his plea agreement.
The Beaumont Federal Correctional Complex comprises high, low and medium security facilities. The high-security penitentiary also has what the prison bureau calls a "satellite camp" for minimum security inmates, which is where Wyatt is expected to serve.
The camp had 531 inmates at the end of December, according to the Bureau of Prisons Web site.
Wyatt's sentence could have been longer.
Moved by an avalanche of support from Wyatt admirers, Chin ordered Wyatt to serve six months less than the low end of a sentencing range of 18 to 24 months that the defense and government agreed was appropriate under federal sentencing guidelines.
Wyatt could have 47 days shaved off his sentence for good conduct, and spend the last 30 days in a halfway house, a Bureau of Prisons spokesman told the Chronicle soon after the sentencing.
tom.fowler@chron.com
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5420278.html
