Former German Arcandor CEO gets three-year jail term

ESSEN, Germany - Thomas Middelhoff, the former Chief Executive of defunct German retail group Arcandor, was sentenced by a German court on Friday to three years in prison for breach of fiduciary trust and tax evasion.

Middelhoff, who ran German media group Bertelsmann before joining the retailer in 2004, had faced criminal charges for having Arcandor foot the bill for private flights and other personal expenses.

Arcandor, the department store and mail order company which until 2007 carried the name KarstadtQuelle, went bust in June 2009, only months after Middelhoff was replaced as chief executive.

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Prosecutors had sought a jail sentence of three years and three months while Middelhoff's lawyers had urged the court in the western city of Essen to impose no jail time at all.