U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison, who handed down the sentence yesterday in Houston, also sentenced Stanley, 69, to three years of supervised probation.
Stanley pleaded guilty in September 2008 to violating the U.S. anti-bribery law, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and agreed to make restitution of $10.8 million, of which $1.55 million remains to be paid. He faced as long as seven years in prison under the terms of his cooperation agreement.
Larry Veselka, Stanley’s lawyer, asked that his client be sentenced to house arrest instead of prison, saying Stanley’s cooperation resulted in eight felony guilty pleas, four deferred-prosecution agreements and fines of $1.7 billion.
Stanley was “the linchpin, the foundation of the largest, most successful FCPA investigation ever,” Veselka said.
“That’s a double-edged sword,” Ellison replied of the record fines resulting from the Nigerian bribery investigation. “It’s the largest because it was the greatest corruption, wasn’t it?”