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Benfield has confirmed it has been subpoenaed by Mr Spitzer as part of an information gathering exercise, and it admits to having acquired US businesses which engaged in so-called “premium service agreements”. Mr Spitzer’s allegations don’t directly seem to affect any UK quoted or domiciled companies. He said: “These three British citizens, if they are ultimately extradited to the US, will not receive bond. They will be detained in a high-security federal facility, and they will have their telephone calls monitored. They will have restricted access to their lawyers.”If the men are extradited they will have to pay their own legal costs, which their spokesman put at about $2m each.

Unlike in Britain, they would be unable to recover those costs and would have to sell their homes and businesses if they won in the US, Mr McNabb said. He said the US Justice Department had contacted the men, but in order for them to get a light sentence they would have had to plead guilty to one charge – which the three refused to do.The extradition order comes under new UK legislation which came into force in January and is designed to speed up the extradition of suspected terrorists. He told the hearing at Bow Street magistrates’ court: “There is a good and proper basis for prosecuting them in the US.”The trio’s lawyer, Mark Spragg, said that they had been targeted early on in the Enron scandal “to implicate people further up the chain”. They would have to fly out, at their expense, more than 30 witnesses and pay for their accommodation and flights, and hire both US and UK legal teams.The defendants’ spokesman also said that he expects the US prosecutors to appeal if the High Court rules against the extradition, and that the case could go to the House of Lords and last “months and months”.The defendants had argued that extradition would breach their human rights, but this was dismissed by District Judge Nicholas Evans. That is the same sentence that Enron’s former chief executive and chairman face if found guilty of multiple charges of fraud.Mr McNabb said he was “greatly disappointed” at yesterday’s decision, adding that the men would not receive a fair trial in Texas. A spokeswoman for the FSA said yesterday: “We’ve reserved our position pending the outcome of the US proceedings.” A spokesman for the CPS said the men would have to contact the police.US prosecutors have accused the trio of seven counts of “wire fraud” – illegally gaining money via international banking systems – and each indictment carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.Douglas McNabb, a US criminal defence lawyer who has given evidence on behalf of the trio, said that they could each be jailed for 22 years, without the possibility of parole.

As the former managing directors of Greenwich NatWest, the investment banking arm of the UK bank, they are alleged to have advised NatWest to sell its stake in an Enron subsidiary called LJM Swap Sub for just $1m (£550,000). It is alleged that the three each pocketed $2.3m and made a profit of more than $12m for two executives at Enron.Mr Bermingham said of the extradition order: “It puts us at a massive and unfair disadvantage and deprives us of the basic rights of British people to be tried by their peers in Britain. Hector Forsythe, an analyst at Evolution Beeson Gregory, said: “There were concerns that some of the issues … They argue that as British citizens accused of defrauding a British bank, with the alleged misconduct having taken place mostly in the UK, they should be tried here rather than in Texas, the home of the failed energy giant Enron.They have been charged with conspiracy to defraud and could face up to 35 years in prison in the US. The case will now go to the Home Secretary who will decide whether they should be extradited.
Gary Mulgrew, David Bermingham and Giles Darby, all 42, said they would appeal against the decision to the High Court.

The group will now look for strategic alliances with US practices rather than carry on with a stand-alone business.The warning that revenues would be hit by about 12 per cent for the year took shareholders by surprise, as the City had recently been told that trading conditions were sound. Three British former NatWest bankers can be extradited to the US over their alleged involvement in a £4m fraud linked to the collapse of Enron, a UK district judge ruled yesterday. it has experienced in the US could spread to the core UK business.”. Its choice of Philip Yea as chief executive for British Land also led to embarrassment. He ditched the company at the last minute in favour of the venture capital outfit, 3i.Analysts suspected that the decision to axe Mr Lawrence may have been to keep other top consultants from leaving the business.