Chalmers, Bayoil plead guilty in Iraq oil-for-food case

David Chalmers and two of his Bayoil companies Friday pleaded guilty to charges that he and the companies paid illegal surcharges in the scandal-plagued United Nations Iraq oil-for-food program, according to the US Attorney's office in New York.Chalmers and Bayoil (USA) and Bayoil Supply & Trading entered the pleabefore US District Court Judge Denny Chin, sitting in the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, the US Attorney's office said in a statement. The
defendants pleaded guilty to commit wire fraud relating to the payments that
went to the former government of Iraq, the statement said.There was no guilty plea from Chalmers' better-known co-defendant,
legendary oilman Oscar Wyatt, the former CEO of Coastal Corp. Wyatt's trial is
slated to begin September 5, according to the US Attorney's office.Also pleading guilty Friday was Ludmil Dionissiev of Houston, who pledge guilty to facilitation the transportation and sale of Iraqi oil in January 2001 "despite knowing that an agent of Bayoil had promised to pay an unlawful secret surcharge to [Iraq] in connection with that oil on behalf of a Russian political figure," the US Attorney's office said.