Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin weren’t the only ones grinning when they left court Tuesday. The Litigation Daily noticed that Frederic Bourke Jr. managed to crack a smile, too, after his sentencing in Manhattan federal court. Although federal district court Judge Shira Scheindlin sentenced the Connecticut entrepreneur and co-founder of Dooney & Bourke to a year and a day of prison time for his role in a scheme to bribe government officials in Azerbaijan, she granted his request for bail pending appeal.

The government had asked that Bourke receive the maximum penalty of 10 years, but Scheindlin ruled that she was able to depart from sentencing guidelines. She did, however, levy a fine of $1 million against Bourke, which she said could be paid after he serves his sentence.

Bourke was convicted in July of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and Travel Act and making false statements to the FBI. The verdict followed a six-week trial in Manhattan where prosecutors tried to prove that Bourke knew about a scheme in the late 1990s to bribe senior officials in Azerbaijan to ensure the country would privatize the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic. Bourke and a group of investors hoped to buy the oil company and turn a huge profit. Prosecutors tried to show that Bourke was not just a passive investor and that he had an especially close relationship with Viktor Kozeny, the alleged mastermind behind the scheme who is currently in the Bahamas fighting extradition.

via In Azerbaijan Bribery Case, Entrepreneur Sentenced to One Year in Prison .