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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Court Upholds Sentence Of Former Westar Executive

DENVER (CN) - The 10th Circuit upheld the 24-month prison sentence of former Westar Energy Inc. executive David Wittig, who was convicted of bank fraud in 2003.

Wittig lent $1.5 million to former Topeka bank President Clinton Weidner II in exchange for loan kickbacks, and then helped him hide the transaction from federal officials.

The three-judge panel previously rejected sentences of 51 months and 60 months, recommending no more than six months, but later acknowledged that U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson had offered a valid explanation for the two-year sentence.

"Though a 24-month sentence was certainly not the only reasonable sentence the district court could have arrived at, we discern no abuse of discretion," the appellate court wrote.

Wittig has already served about one year in prison and is expected to return to complete the sentence.

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