By Debbie Schlussel
Remember billionaire Oscar Wyatt? In September, I told you about the Coastal Corporation Chairman and CEO’s personal phone book.
He was accused of doing business with Saddam Hussein in violation of our embargo on Iraq, paying Saddam millions in kickbacks, so that he could buy more than his allotment of oil under the oil-for-food program. By doing so, he helped finance Saddam’s tyranny and mass-murder. My column, disclosing the details of Wyatt’s phonebook, confirmed that he was doing business with a key Al-Qaeda financier, Khalid Bin Mahfouz, and many members of Saddam’s top oil officials.

Oscar Wyatt w/Wife Lynn: She’s Smiling Over Hubby’s Light Sentence
Well, apparently, crime pays.
Wyatt, who decided to plead guilty–the evidence against him was overwhelming, including secret bank accounts in Jordan–got a very, very light sentence. Yesterday, he was sentenced to just a year and a day in prison. The extra day is significant because it means that he will do far less than a year, getting several months time off for good behavior. If you’re just sentenced to a year, you get no time off. The extra day is what makes the difference. That the feds agreed to this paltry sentence, is disgusting.
Less than a year in prison. That’s not bad for making billions off of oil he illegally bought from Saddam, then resold at a huge profit with a Muslim Arab Swiss co-conspirator. In fact, the sentence is a joke. After years of investigation by dedicated, then-Customs agents and others, and after millions of our tax dollars spent to investigate and prosecute Wyatt, the 1-year sentence is a slap on the hand.
Clearly, America is not serious about enforcing our embargoes and boycotts.
The message is loud and clear: Those who spy for the enemy–like Nada Nadim Prouty doing so for Hezbollah–and those who help finance the enemy–like Oscar S. Wyatt–do a year or less. Meanwhile, Jonathon Pollard–who spied for an ally (Israel) and gave it info we were required to give it by treaty (but didn’t)–still rots in prison after 22 years, most of them spent in solitary confinement and with necessary medications for his medical condition denied.
We condone treason against us by the enemy, but not that done for our ally.
Oscar Wyatt is laughing all the way to the bank . . . and his Saddam-financed bank account.
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BTW, I still haven’t found out why Richard L. Crocker, a then-U.S. Customs Service agent, is listed in Wyatt’s phone book. The man, later an ICE Assistant Special Agent in Charge for Memphis–and now in ICE’s Phoenix, AZ District Office, is listed with a 24-hour contact number. As I asked then:

Why did Wyatt need a contact on-call 24 hours a day from the then-U.S. Customs Service? Was he trying to get something into the country or out of it that he shouldn’t have been?

Still asking.