United States Federal Witness Protection Program
Brought to trial in 1992 at the United States district court in Brooklyn over various charges of fraud, McNamara faced a maximum sentence of $800 million in fines and 20 years in jail. A plea bargaining deal with state and federal prosecutors reduced this considerably to five years, on the condition that he provide evidence against the officials he had bribed with regards to his property development projects. In concluding the case, the judge agreed that McNamara's sentence could be reviewed further, should the value of his evidence prove great and should he choose to enter the United States Federal Witness Protection Program. In 1995, three of those officials were acquitted of bribery.