Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Texas billionaire Oscar Wyatt faces as much as two years in prison after pleading guilty to bribing Iraqi officials in exchange for the right to buy oil in violation of the United Nations oil-for-food program.

The surprise guilty plea today halted his trial after three weeks of testimony, ending a case that threatened to send the oilman to prison for the rest of his life. Under a deal with prosecutors, Wyatt faces 18-to-24 months in jail when he's sentenced on Nov. 27.

``I didn't want to waste any more time at 83-years-old fooling with this,'' Wyatt said after the hearing in Manhattan federal court. ``The quicker I get it over with, the better.''

Wyatt, 83, founder of oil company Coastal Corp., was accused of paying millions of dollars to Iraq outside of the 1996 UN program, which allowed Iraq to use oil revenue to buy food and medicine. The initiative sought to ease the impact of sanctions imposed after Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The Iraqis were permitted to select companies that would receive oil.

More than 2,200 companies paid almost $1.8 billion in bribes to win contracts, according to a 2005 inquiry led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. Nine people or entities have pleaded guilty or were convicted of charges stemming from a U.S. Justice Department probe.

Wyatt, indicted on five counts, pleaded guilty to only one, conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The Houston billionaire's likely sentence is about half of what another defendant in the case, David Chalmers, agreed to when he pleaded guilty in August. Chalmers is to be sentenced Nov. 19.

`More Risks'

Wyatt, who may be jailed as early as Jan. 2, also agreed to forfeit $11 million.

In court today, the oilman said he made an illegal kickback of 220,000 euros, or roughly $200,000 at the time, to the Iraqis in December 2001. During the trial, prosecutors outlined other alleged illegal payments.

``Was the intent to deceive the United Nations?'' U.S. District Judge Denny Chin asked. ``Yes, sir,'' Wyatt replied.

``Did you know what you were doing was illegal?'' Chin asked. ``Yes,'' Wyatt said.

Prosecutors were planning to rest their case tomorrow. Defense attorney Gerald Shargel said today that he hadn't planned to present witnesses and would have instead attacked the credibility of the government's case.

``There are more risks that come along with representing an octogenarian,'' Shargel said in an interview. ``The government gave us an opportunity to minimize the risk.''

`Strong Case'

After his plea, Wyatt was allowed to speak with the jurors. He slapped several on the shoulder as he asked their opinion of the government's case.

``Who would have sent me home?'' he asked the assembled panel in the jury room. No one raised his or her hand.

``It was a strong case,'' one juror, Ashok Desei, said. ``The evidence was a lot,'' added another, Len Archer.

Since the trial began Sept. 10, prosecutors offered evidence from three key witnesses and played recordings of Wyatt's conversations with traders from Houston-based El Paso Corp., which purchased Coastal in 2001 for $24 billion.

One witness, Samir Vincent, an Iraqi-American businessman who worked for Wyatt, said the oilman traveled to Baghdad in 1994 or 1995 and provided satellite equipment to the Iraqis. Vincent, who has pleaded guilty, told jurors about Wyatt's efforts to use front companies to buy Iraqi oil in the 1990s.

`Fronts'

A former Iraqi oil official, Mubdir Al-Khudhair, said he heard Wyatt say he planned to use Cyprus-based companies to buy crude oil. Another ex-Iraqi official testified about documents indicating that Wyatt paid kickbacks.

``He traded the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people for the satisfaction of his own greed,'' U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia in New York said in a statement.

Prosecutors will dismiss four remaining counts, including one accusing Wyatt of engaging in prohibited transactions with a state-sponsor of terrorism.

The defense said the Cypriot firms that prosecutors say were fronts -- Nafta Petroleum Co. and Mednafta Trading Co. -- were independent and not controlled by the Texan.

Wyatt, a critic of U.S. President George W. Bush, also argued before the trial began that he was being prosecuted because of his political beliefs.

Crop Dusters

Wyatt was born in Beaumont, Texas, and flew crop dusters at age 14. While he was a student at Texas A&M University, he was recruited to fly bombers in World War II. After returning to Texas, he founded Hardly Able Oil Co. in 1950 with an $800 loan. The collateral was his 1949 Ford.

Wyatt parlayed his startup into a company with annual sales in the billions of dollars. He built a system to collect natural gas burned off in Texas oil wells, enabling him to sell the fuel to homeowners as far away as Utah, Michigan and New England.

The case is U.S. v. Chalmers, 05-CR-59, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporter on this story: David Glovin in U.S. District Court in New York at dglovin@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 1, 2007 17:31 EDT