San Diego

A Scottish businessman convicted in a scheme to circumvent a presidential embargo banning U.S. trade with Libya was sentenced Monday to the 10 months in jail he has already served.

Francis George Christie, 51, of Aberdeen, Scotland, told reporters afterward that he felt “great relief” after being put on five years’ probation.

U.S. District Judge Rudi Brewster fined Christie $18,000, which he estimated was the government’s cost in housing Christie at the Metropolitan Correctional Center for 10 months.

Christie was the star witness against a New Orleans couple, Cheryl and George Smith, who were convicted Friday of 11 counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States, making illegal exports to Libya, and making false statements about the scheme.

Christie allegedly acted as a go-between for the Smiths, who operated a Louisiana oil services company, and the Libyans through his Scotland-based petrochemical equipment distributing firm, Christie Noble Services Ltd.

Shipments of oil equipment were made to Libya in violation of the 1986 embargo imposed by President Reagan.

“I’m deeply ashamed of my conduct. I’ve tried my best to make up for it by cooperating,” Christie told the judge. “I feel nothing but shame and remorse. I ask you to accept my sincerest apologies.”

Assistant U.S. Atty. Phil Halpern, who said Christie testified honestly for three days in the Smith trial, told the judge the sentence to time already served was appropriate.

Christie’s attorney, Frank Ragen, said Christie saw the Libyan deal as an opportunity to keep his business going during a time when the oil business was slow.

The Smiths are scheduled for sentencing Jan. 19. Brewster remanded the couple to jail after the verdicts Friday. Halpern said they could receive 80-year prison terms and be fined $2.75 million.

George Smith, 50, and Cheryl Smith, 37, owned Oil Patch Productions in Gretna, La.