company he controlled was sentenced to two years in prison in Supreme Court yesterday.

Nearly nine months that Steven Sigismund Geiger has already spent in custody will be subtracted from the sentence, said Puisne Judge the Hon. Mr. Justice Ground.

Geiger, 43, who court was told was attacked by other prison inmates on August 5, said his time in prison had been "a living hell''.

His lawyer, Mr. Alan Dunch, asked that Geiger be sentenced to the time he had already served.

Mr. Dunch said Geiger's thefts in 1987 and 1988 were "akin to technical offences.'' Manager of the Wolf/Geiger companies -- several of which were registered in Bermuda -- he fraudulently and without authorisation pledged monies in bank accounts belonging to one of the companies as security for loans to help other companies in the group.

When the loans were not repaid, the Banks of Butterfield and Bermuda which held the deposits seized the $1.34 million as security.

The complainant, Mrs. Paula Caroline Wolf of New York City, along with her two children, were the only ones authorised to draw on the bank accounts. The court was told Geiger used blank stationery Mrs. Wolf had signed to pledge the money and repeatedly assured her the funds were safe.

"There is no question of personal gain on the part of Mr. Geiger,'' Mr. Dunch said. Noting that Geiger has no criminal record and has been in custody since his arrest in New York on February 17, Mr. Dunch asked for his "immediate release''.

But Mr. Justice Ground said the case involved a breach of trust. A harsher sentence was required, in line with the two years requested by Crown Counsel Mr. Peter DeJulio.

He said much of the money Geiger stole was supposed to provide a pension for 66-year-old Mrs. Wolf. "You have in effect deprived this elderly lady of the pension established for her by her late husband,'' the judge told Geiger.

While Geiger claimed he thought his actions were legal, "you knew you would have not received permission if you had asked Mrs. Wolf'', Mr. Justice Ground said.

And while there was no immediate financial gain for Geiger, Mr. Justice Ground could not accept there was no longer-term benefit.

Mrs. Wolf, whose late husband Mr. Martin Wolf bought into what became known as the Wolf/Geiger companies in 1988, was to receive a pension of $6,000 a month from the $1 million Hellenic Navigation Inc. had on deposit at the Bank of Butterfield and $340,000 at the Bank of Bermuda.

Hellenic, one of several companies in the group, was where the Wolf/Geiger profits were deposited.

The companies, originally based in New York, Canada, or Panama and later registered in Bermuda, were involved in mining, metals sales, and shipping, Mr. Dunch said.

Executive imprisoned Geiger's father, Mr. Leslie Geiger, had founded the companies in the early 1950s. Steven Geiger began working with the group in 1975 and took a more active role when his father was killed in a plane crash in Chile in 1982.

Geiger was helped by Mr. Wolf, who died of cancer in 1984. Geiger then assumed complete control.

In the mid-1980s, "the businesses all started to collapse'', due to the global recession and plummeting silver prices, Mr. Dunch said.

"In the course of trying to keep them afloat from 1987 to 1990, Mr. Geiger found himself having to borrow heavily from both of the local banks,'' Mr.

Dunch said.

When it became apparent the loans could not be repaid, the banks seized the funds on deposit in late 1990 and early 1991.

Mr. DeJulio said the maximum sentence was five years, but Geiger's guilty pleas were among the mitigating factors. The trial, scheduled to begin yesterday, would have lasted at least three weeks and required witnesses from Panama, France, and New York, he said.

He did not ask for restitution. "I believe there may be civil proceedings pending or contemplated,'' Mr. DeJulio said.

Geiger said he was extremely sorry for his actions.

"The last nine months of incarceration have been excruciatingly painful and a living hell for me and my family,'' he said. "My burning desire is to go back to my family who desperately need me and at the same time become a productive member of society again.''