Ex-Oilman Sutton Gets 4-Year Term on Bribery Charges
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WASHINGTON — A former Oklahoma oilman was sentenced to four years in prison and fined $105,000 Tuesday for bribing two Energy Department officials in an effort to obtain confidential documents in an investigation of his oil-pricing practices.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ordered Robert B. Sutton of Tulsa to begin serving his sentence after he finishes his current three-year term for obstruction of justice in connection with the investigation by the Energy and Justice departments into his oil reselling business in the late 1970s.
He faced a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and fines up to $1 million.
Sutton, once described by Forbes magazine as one of the richest men in America, was convicted by a federal court jury of using go-betweens to obtain confidential information related to the Energy Department’s investigation.
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