Business Notes CRIME

What the press had dubbed the City of London's "trial of the century" ended last week in the conviction of four of Britain's most prominent businessmen. Former Guinness PLC chairman Ernest Saunders was sentenced to five years in prison for masterminding an illegal operation to boost the stock price of the famed $11.6 billion brewing and distilling group and thus helping the company win its successful $5.23 billion takeover battle for Distillers, the Scottish liquor maker. Investigators first became aware of the Guinness scheme, described as one of the biggest financial scandals in British history, when U.S. inside-trader Ivan Boesky disclosed some of the details.

For their supporting roles in the affair, Gerald Ronson, the chairman of Heron International, a multinational real estate and service-station empire, was sentenced to a year in jail and a $9.7 million fine, while stockbroker Anthony Parnes drew a 2 1/2-year term. A fourth defendant, financier Sir Jack Lyons, will be sentenced later this month. Unlike Boesky, Saunders will no longer have millions when he emerges from prison: before sentencing, he was forced to apply for the British equivalent of welfare to survive.