Banker David Bermingham, from Goring, and two former NatWest colleagues who were extradited to the US on £11m fraud charges have pleaded guilty.
Father-of-three Bermingham, 44, Gary Mulgrew, 45, and Giles Darby, 45, changed their pleas following a deal with American prosecutors, the Southern District of Texas Court heard tonight.
They were extradited from Britain to Houston, Texas, in July last year.
Under the terms of the plea agreement the men are set to serve 37 months in prison after admitting one of the seven charges of fraud which they faced in connection with the US energy company Enron, which collapsed in 2001, with debts of $31.8bn (£18bn).
They will also have to pay $7.35m (£3.52m) to the Royal Bank of Scotland, which owns NatWest.
Judge Ewling Werlein told the men: "The court will not determine today whether to accept this plea agreement, which has a specific sentence attached with it."
The trio will return to court on February 22 next year for sentencing.
Dan Cogdell, defending Bermingham, urged the judge to consider bringing the defendants' sentencing date forward.
"Crudely put, they can't get out until they get in," he said.
Each charge carried a maximum sentence of five years' imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 (£120,000).
The trio were alleged by US fraud investigators to have "deprived" NatWest of £11m after a deal in 2000 involving a offshore partnership based in the Cayman Islands, in the Caribbean.
The Crown Prosecution Service decided not to press charges in the UK.
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