10 Years and $3.3bn restitution for former Cendant executive for Fraud.

E. Kirk Shelton, former vice chairman of the Cendant Corporation has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for a fraud at the travel and real estate company.

Shelton was also ordered to pay $3.3bn in restitution, however payment terms mean that he will actually only pay a fraction of that.

Cendant was formed from the merger of CUC and and another company in 1997. Shelton was the no.2 executive at CUC.

After the merger, executives discovered the fraud that had actually taken place at CUC. The SEC concluded that it had lasted from the time CUC had gone public in 1983.

In 1998, the scandal was described as the largest fraud in American history. Investors lost nearly $19bn.

Of course this figure has been eclipsed by the more infamous WorldCom and Enron.

CUC former CEO, Walter E. Forbes, was also on trial. However a deadlocked jury means he will be retried later this year.

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