David Wittig (born July 29, 1955) is the former chief executive officer of Topeka, Kansas-based Westar Energy, a utility company.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Wittig became a Wall Street investment banker.
In 1995, Wittig, having earned millions in New York, was asked to return to Kansas as an executive at Western Resources (later renamed Westar Energy) by John E. Hayes, then CEO of Western and a customer of Wittig's at Salomon Brothers. At that time, Warren Buffett had taken over Salomon in the wake of a trading scandal "and decided to cut the exorbitant compensation of the firm’s managing directors." Wittig faced a maximum of 455 years behind bars and intended to appeal.
On January 5, 2007, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the convictions of Wittig and Lake in the Westar Energy case. Wittig was freed from prison on February 12, 2007.
Wittig was scheduled to be retried for the third time for looting Westar in September 2008. With delays, in July 2010, the new trial was set to begin September 20. However, the trial judge first was "expected to rule whether to proceed at all (and, if so, on what basis), in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling [in June] on the conviction of the former Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling, which appears to limit the government’s use of the so-called honest services statute to seek convictions in corruption cases. A motion to dismiss the case is before" the judge, Julie A. Robinson.
In 2010 all charges against Wittig were dismissed.
In July 2011, Wittig settled a dispute with Westar Energy for back compensation owed him. The settlement amount received by Wittig was $36,000,000 in cash, $3,100,000 in legal fees incurred by Wittig, and $2,700,000 in stock compensation.