Forbes gets 151 months for Cendant fraud

0 Comments | USA TODAY, January, 2007 | by Greg Farrell

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- A federal judge sentenced Walter Forbes, the former chairman of Cendant, to 12 1/2 years in prison Wednesday, bringing an end to a criminal inquiry that began almost a decade ago. With the jail term, Forbes becomes the latest member of a rogues' gallery of former CEOs packed off to prison in recent years for presiding over accounting debacles.

In addition to handing him a prison term of 151 months, U.S. District Judge Alan Nevas ordered Forbes to pay $3.275 billion in restitution, an amount roughly equal to what shareholders received in a settlement with Cendant and auditor Ernst & Young in 1999. In a two-hour hearing Wednesday morning, Nevas rejected arguments from Forbes' lawyers that he should get the same 10-year sentence received by a subordinate,...