83-year old legendary Houston oilman Oscar Wyatt will be fighting to live the remainder of his life as a free man beginning today in a U.S. District Courtroom in New York City. Wyatt is being tried on criminal charges that he bribed Iraqi officials in a scheme to acquire Iraqi oil in violation of the United Nations’ oil-for-food program (previous posts here, here, here and here). The Houston Chronicle ran major stories here and here on the trial over this past weekend, and the NY Times story on the beginning of the trial is here.
The Wyatt trial has the potential to be particularly noteworthy because of a part of the defense strategy — to paint the prosecution as political payback by two of Wyatt’s old oil field rivals, U.S. President George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush, the former president.
Wyatt is charged with conspiracy, wire fraud and trading with a country that supports terrorism. The indictment essentially alleges that he arranged for about $4 million in secret payments to Iraqi officials funneled through shell foreign companies and Swiss intermediaries to the Iraqi government from 2000 through 2002. In response, Wyatt contends that the U.S. government has targeted him for prosecution because he has been an outspoken critic of the two Bush administrations, particularly over the two wars in Iraq. Wyatt is the most prominent U.S. businessman indicted in the affair, althought eight other individuals have been convicted or pleaded guilty to similar charges to those against Wyatt. Likewise, charges are pending against five others.
A 2005 report from a commission led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker alleged widespread corruption in the $64 billion oil-for-food program, which was created to allow Iraq sell oil and use the proceeds to buy humanitarian goods to offset sanctions imposed after the Desert Storm War in 1991. Mr. Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The Volcker commission’s report accused 2,200 companies from 40 countries of conspiring with Saddam Hussein’s regime to divert $1.8 billion from the supposedly humanitarian campaign.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin today and the trial is expected to last four to six weeks. Wyatt and his defense attorney — noted New York criminal defense attorney Gerald Shargel, who previously represented the late reputed mobster, John Gotti — have not yet decided whether Wyatt will take the stand in his own defense. This one looks to be worth the price of admission, so stay tuned.