British Bankers Lose Final Appeal to Avoid Extradition

The European Court of Human Rights refused to intervene in the decision to extradite three British investment bankers -- David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew, and Giles Darby -- to the United States to face charges in an Enron-related transaction.  The three were officers of Greenwich NatWest who participated in a transaction engineered by former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow in which they are alleged to have made $7.3 million.  They argued that any misconduct occurred in Great Britain and Greenwich NatWest, now owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, was the victim, so the charges should be tried there and not in Houston, which will be a much more hostile environment.  The argument has been rejected at each level in the UK, most recently by the House of Lords, and the European Court's refusal means that their last appeal is to Prime Minister Tony Blair.  Articles from The Times (here) and CNN.Com (here) discuss the extradition decisions and plea to Blair. (ph)