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by Mike Caswell

Brent Whiteley, a Texas man charged alongside Kelowna-Alaska resident Jeffrey Hastings and other Canadians for the $100-million SAExploration Holdings Inc. fraud, has asked a New York judge to spare him jail. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) Mr. Whiteley says that his crime arose amidst marital troubles, substance abuse and hidden financial burdens. He claims to represent no threat to the community, and says that incarceration is not necessary to deter him from future crimes.

The request from Mr. Whiteley comes as part of a case in which prosecutors cited him and others for a scheme that saw SAExploration report revenue that never existed in 2015 and 2016. As part of the fraud, he and the others misappropriated millions of dollars of the company's money, the government said. There was no trial for Mr. Whiteley, as he pleaded guilty to charges that included securities fraud, wire fraud and related conspiracy counts.

With his sentencing the only matter of substance remaining, Mr. Whiteley filed a memorandum on Jan. 30, 2024, setting out what he sees as an appropriate disposition. He portrays his crime as one that arose amidst the stresses of attempting to keep a struggling company properly financed. Mr. Whiteley says that SAExploration had been short of money since its inception in 2011. As the company's chief financial officer, he devoted much of his time to raising money to keep SAExploration solvent. The stress of this effort, as set out in the memorandum, exacerbated his pre-existing drug and alcohol use.

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