AIB rogue trader John Rusnak was today sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for covering up $691m trading losses at the bank's US subsidiary Allfirst.
In October Rusnak agreed to plead guilty to bank fraud in exchange for receiving a reduced sentence. Under US law he could have received up to 30 years in prison and a 1m dollar fine.
He will also have to pay resitution to the company at a rate of $1,000 per month after he leaves jail, and he must attend drug, alcohol and gambling addiction counseling. He will spend five years under supervision after he leaves jail.
Rusnak said in court that he was sorry for what he had done and would accept the consequences without bitterness.
He will not be eligible for parole but could have his sentence reduced for good behaviour.
Another Allfirst employee testifying on the impact of the fraud said she believed Rusnak was only sorry he got caught.
Rusnak has admitted he devised a complex scheme to hide risky foreign exchange transaction which had spiralled out of control and run up heavy losses.
As part of his October plea bargain Rusnak agreed to help US authorities look into possible involvement by other into the losses. In exchage the state dropped six other charges contained in his June indictment, and recommended the seven and a half year sentence.
US prosecutors do not believe Rusnak stole any of the 691m.
A spokeswoman for AIB said the bank had always maintained it was the victim of a complex and serious fraud, and the sentence today endorsed that.
The original rogue trader Nick Leeson, who lost Barings Bank $1.4bn in 1995, served four years of a six year sentence he received in Singapore.
