More Long Jail Terms in Financial Fraud

Fifteen years, 12 years, 10 years, 5 years -- the litany of long prison sentences in the National Century Financial fraud continued today during the second day of sentencing in the $2 billion case.

Roger S. Faulkenberry, 47, a senior executive responsible for raising money from investors, was ordered to spend 10 years in federal prison; James E. Dierker Jr., 40, associate director of marketing and vice president of client development, was sentenced to 5 years.

District Judge Algenon L. Marbley in Federal Court in Columbus, Ohio, set the jail terms. On Wednesday, Marbley sentenced National Century founder, vice chairman, and chief operating officer Donald H. Ayers, 72, to 15 years and former chief financial officer Randolph H. Speer, 57, to 12 years.

Two more National Century executives -- former C.E.O. Lance K. Poulsen and his friend Karl A. Demmler -- are scheduled to be sentenced on Friday. Those men were convicted of obstructing justice for having tried to persuade a government witness to fake amnesia. Poulsen still faces a trial on fraud charges in October.

Today's sentences were reported earlier on the website of the Columbus Dispatch.

The National Century executives were accused of fraud in the 2002 collapse of their company, which, for a fee, collected the accounts receivable of health-care providers. When the fraud was exposed and the company failed, it precipitated the collapse of more than 275 health-care provider clients and cost its investors $2 billion.

Indeed, at one point on Wednesday, the judge ordered the men convicted in the case to repay investors precisely $2,384,147,105.09, the Dispatch reported in its print edition today.

The newspaper noted, however, that the men were "unlikely" to be able to raise that amount as they prepare for prison.

Also on the hook for that $2.3 billion: vice chairwoman, secretary, and treasurer Rebecca S. Parrett. She was also convicted in March, but jumped bail after the verdict and remains at large.

by Mark Stein