Bert Fingerhut, who forfeited $11 million, also was fined $75,000 by U.S. District Judge Peter Sheridan in federal court Friday in Newark, N.J. Fingerhut, 63, pleaded guilty to conspiring to control shares of mutual banks that went public, including Provident Financial Services Inc. and NewAlliance Bancshares Inc.

''What I did was wrong,'' Fingerhut told the judge before his sentencing. ''This was purely an act of selfishness. This was a crime of greed. I had all the material wealth I needed long before I began investing in mutual banks. This was purely to satisfy my ego.''

Fingerhut served on SUWA's board of directors for about 18 years before resigning suddenly in late February or early March, said the group's executive director, Scott Groene. He is a prominent environmentalist and wilderness enthusiast with homes in Aspen, Colo., and Palo Alto, Calif. He is said to have spent more than 200 nights in southern Utah backpacking, rafting and canyoneeringÂ.

Fingerhut is a former chairman of the governing council of the Wilderness Society and served on the board of trustees of the National Outdoor Leadership School until February.

Facing five years in prison, Fingerhut won leniency by helping prosecutors unravel what they said was the largest mutual bank conversion scheme ever uncovered. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sued Fingerhut and three others, claiming they made $12 million in illicit profits by targeting 65 banks that converted to stock ownership.

Fingerhut, who lives in Aspen, Colo., and Palo Alto, Calif., forfeited $6.4 million Thursday after earlier giving up $4.5 million, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Karl Buch.

Sheridan said he will recommend to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons that Fingerhut serve his term at the federal prison in Lompoc or Taft, Calif. Another man, Robert Danetz, pleaded guilty along with Fingerhut on May 16, and prosecutors will charge others in September, Buch said.

Fingerhut and Danetz admitted taking advantage of private savings banks whose assets were deposits. When those banks went public, depositors had subscription rights to buy stock ahead of other investors. Regulations restricted the amount of shares any one person could buy and barred transfer of subscription rights.

Fingerhut worked from 1965 to 1983 at Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., and was on the management and executive committees. He spent from 1983 to 1988 as an analyst at Odyssey Investors Inc., a broker-dealer once affiliated with Oppenheimer.

At Friday's hearing, defense attorney Larry Mackey discussed 41 letters of support he submitted to Sheridan on Fingerhut's behalf, including one from University of Colorado Law School Dean David Getches. Another was from a woman rescued by Fingerhut after nearly dying in a Rocky Mountain hike, Mackey said.

In his guilty plea, Fingerhut admitted that in December 1995, he gave money to Danetz to open an account at New Haven Savings Bank in Connecticut, which became a subsidiary of NewAlliance. He said he also gave money to ''B.F.'' to open an account there in 2001, he admitted.

When NewAlliance went public in 2004, Danetz bought 65,689 shares for Fingerhut and B.F. bought 56,172 shares, he said.

The SEC sued Fingerhut's nephew, Bruce Fingerhut, 38, of Alexandria, Va., accusing him of serving as a nominee in 16 bank conversions. The agency also sued Danetz's brother, Stephen, 65, a real-estate attorney from New York.

In its complaint, the SEC said Fingerhut recruited Danetz to travel the country and open as many accounts as possible. He used passports and social security cards to open accounts in the names of members of his family and Fingerhut's family, the SEC said.

For banks requiring local residents, Danetz paid friends and acquaintances to add his name to utility bills or leases to show his purported proof of local residency, the SEC said.

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* PAUL BEEBE contributed to this report.