A Florida federal judge came in below the sentencing guidelines Wednesday in ordering a former Miami financial adviser to spend 3½ years in prison for facilitating and helping to conceal a bribery scheme that funneled millions to Ecuadorian oil officials to secure contracts for a private company.
Family and friends of defendant Frank Chatburn Ripalda embraced and shared tears and smiles in the Miami courtroom after U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke issued her decision, which was well under guidelines of about seven to nine years the parties had agreed to in a plea agreement and within the range of sentences previously issued to other co-conspirators.
The 42-year-old Chatburn faced a maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000 or twice the gain or loss in the case, after he pled guilty on the eve of trial in October to a single count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to the court.
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