Two former executives of the failed BestBank, Thomas Alan Boyd and Jack O. Grace Jr., were sentenced to 90 months and 72 months, respectively, this morning in federal court.

Boyd and Grace were the president and chief financial officer of Boulder-based BestBank, which collapsed under the strain of a huge portfolio of high-risk credit-card accounts. They were convicted in February of 15 of the 90 counts they faced.

A third convicted executive, Edward P. Mattar III, will be sentenced Oct. 19.

Boyd's attorney, Virginia L. Grady, argued that Boyd and BestBank were victimized by vengeful federal banking regulators who conducted an incomplete examination and didn't understand the nature of BestBank's problems.

Grace's attorney, Daniel J. Sears, argued Grace was less culpable than the other participants and cooperated with federal investigators thinking he was a witness, not a potential defendant. "The system has failed him," Sears said. "He's accepted responsibility."

Grady asked that Boyd be sentenced to 48 months, and Sears asked for probation, but U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch rejected the requests.

"Contrary to the system failing the defendants, the defendants failed the system," he said. "It's not the role of bank officers to deceive the (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.) and state banking regulators."

Each man received a $15,000 fine. Boyd must forfeit $4.74 million in ill-gotten gains, while Grace was ordered to forfeit $92,643, the amount of a performance bonus awarded him after he deceived the board and created a false financial statement, Matsch said.