Ex-Westar CEO Sentenced To 18 Years

(AP)  A federal judge sentenced former Westar Energy Inc. CEO David Wittig to 18 years in prison for looting millions from the Kansas utility.

U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson also sentenced Wittig's co-defendant, Douglas Lake, the former executive vice president of Westar, to 15 years in prison. Wittig and Lake also were ordered Monday to pay fines of $5 million each, in addition to millions of dollars in restitution.

Attorneys for both men said they intend to appeal.

The sentences brought to a close legal proceedings that began shortly after Wittig, Westar's former president, chairman and chief, and Lake left the company in late 2002 amid concerns that they had schemed to inflate their pay and benefits and hide them from the company's board and shareholders.

An initial three-month trial ended in a hung jury in late 2004, but jurors in a second trial last September found the two men guilty of conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and circumventing internal controls during their tenures at Westar, the largest electric utility in Kansas.

Wittig, 50, was convicted of 39 counts; Lake, 55, was convicted of 30 counts and acquitted of nine.

During sentencing, Robinson drew parallels to the Enron scandal, but said she thought Wittig and Lake's behavior may have been worse.

"The defendants' greed was unbridled and seemingly limitless," she said. "The defendants weren't trying to keep an unhealthy company afloat. They were trying to destroy a healthy company and for what reason? Their own compensation."

Robinson refused bond for both men pending appeal, saying she did not think defense attorneys had raised strong arguments for overturning their convictions. She also said the men had shown "disrespect" for the court by not adequately informing prosecutors and federal probation officers about their finances.