Enron cases pose vigorous challenges

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Registered: 03-23-2003
Enron cases pose vigorous challenges
10
Fri, 01-02-2004 - 1:35pm
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/155004_enrontrials02.html

Enron cases pose vigorous challenges

Friday, January 2, 2004


By KRISTEN HAYS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


HOUSTON -- First came Enron Corp.'s scandalous collapse. Then came the crackdowns. Now come the trials.


The Enron saga has brought the infamous and the unknown to court in handcuffs as the Justice Department continues a multilayered investigation into what brought down the high-flying energy company.


The two top executives, former Chairman Kenneth Lay and former Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling, had not been charged as the investigation passed the two-year mark. Both maintain their innocence of wrongdoing in the corporate implosion that cost thousands of workers their jobs, burned many investors and spawned dozens of lawsuits.


Barring last-minute guilty pleas or lengthy postponements, 16 defendants, including former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow, are scheduled for trial in 2004. The five jury trials are likely to mix intense drama with complicated testimony.


"As much activity as there has been so far, it's really just a warm-up act to what we can expect in the coming year," said Robert Mintz, a former federal prosecutor who handles white-collar crime cases as an attorney in private practice.


"The government will truly be put to the test in these upcoming trials, and we will see for the first time whether the government can successfully distill these incredibly complex frauds into cases jurors can understand," Mintz said.


The first Enron defendant to face a jury is expected to be Lea Fastow, a one-time Enron executive and wife of the former finance chief. She is scheduled for trial Feb. 10, and the judge has already denied a defense request to move the trial.


Lea Fastow, who quit as Enron's assistant treasurer in 1997, was indicted in April on six counts of conspiracy and filing false tax forms for allegedly participating in some of her husband's deals.


Andrew Fastow is the highest-profile former Enron executive bound for trial in April, though his lawyers plan to ask for a postponement. They also are awaiting word on whether a judge will move his case outside Texas.


He faces 98 counts of conspiracy, fraud, money laundering, insider trading and other charges. He's accused of running a mini-kingdom of Byzantine financing methods and partnerships for years that funneled millions to him, his family and others and set the company on a collision course for failure.


Andrew Fastow was indicted in October 2002, more than two months after his former top lieutenant, Michael Kopper, spilled all to prosecutors about alleged dirty deals in Enron's secretive finance group.


His lawyers say he did what he was hired for, and his work was approved by Enron's top executives -- Lay and Skilling -- as well as the company's directors. Lea Fastow's lawyers say she was indicted to try to squeeze cooperation out of her husband.


In June, four former Merrill Lynch & Co. bankers and two former midlevel Enron executives are scheduled to go to trial on conspiracy charges. They're accused of pushing through a loan disguised as a sale of Nigerian barges in 1999 so Enron would appear to have met lofty earnings targets. All six have pleaded not guilty.


The 2004 trials on the docket so far are scheduled to end with two in October. Seven former Enron Broadband executives were named in a 223-count indictment alleging three conspiracies: overstatement of capabilities of the company's broadband unit, accounting fraud and efforts to hype broadband to analysts in 2001 to boost Enron's stock price.


All pleaded not guilty, and their lawyers say the case may be split into two or more separate trials because of the different types of conspiracies alleged in the indictment.


John Forney, a former top trading executive at Enron, is scheduled for trial in San Francisco -- so far the only trial scheduled outside of Houston, where Enron is based -- on 11 counts of conspiracy and fraud. He's accused of manipulating Western energy markets during California's power crisis of 2000 and 2001. He, too, has pleaded not guilty.


Besides Kopper, six people have struck plea deals -- five former Enron executives and David Duncan, who was the top Enron auditor at nearly defunct Arthur Andersen LLP.


All six are cooperating with prosecutors in the upcoming trials and other ongoing investigations except former Treasurer Ben Glisan, who began serving a five-year sentence in September after pleading guilty to conspiracy.


© 1998-2004 Seattle Post-Intelligencer


iVillage Member
Registered: 10-20-2003
Sat, 01-03-2004 - 4:30pm
This kind of corporate greed makes me sick! All those involved should have their butts thrown in jail and the key tossed in the ocean with cement shoes attached! I'm sorry, but those involved in the scandal and fraud make me sick!! These people ruined others lives!!!!
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Wed, 01-07-2004 - 3:58pm
Former Enron executive Fastow reportedly negotiating plea
Possible deal could send Fastow, wife to prison.

A former top Enron executive and his wife are in plea-bargain discussions with the government that would send them to prison, sources say.


An agreement could be finalized as early as Thursday for Andrew and Lea Fastow, a source said.


Fastow, who was in the top tier of management at the fallen energy giant, would be the highest-ranking executive to plead guilty in the criminal investigation of Enron's 2001 collapse.


The couple, both now free on bond, has previously pleaded not guilty to all charges.


More...........


http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/01/07/enron.fastows/index.html

cl-Libraone

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Thu, 01-08-2004 - 3:20pm

Employee's of Enron have had their finances ruined, yet the judge is being so considerate. I just hope this deal is worth it & Ken Lay does some hard time.


Update:






Judge OKs Lea Fastow plea deal.


http://money.cnn.com/2004/01/08/news/companies/fastow/index.htm?cnn=yes



The agreement could clear the way for a separate pact with her husband, the ex-CFO of Enron.
federal judge Thursday said he will accept a guilty plea from the wife of a former top Enron executive that would mean prison time for her and may also lead to a stiff sentence for her husband, ex-Enron CFO Andrew Fastow.

U.S. District Judge David Hittner said Lea Fastow, a former assistant treasurer at Enron, could come in as early as Thursday afternoon to change her plea to guilty, adding he was still considering whether to reduce her sentence to five months from a possible term of more than 10 years.


Lea Fastow's plea deal is believed to be a coordinated effort with her husband, former Enron chief financial officer Andrew, that might allow one of them to remain at home with their two children while the other is serving prison time.


Andrew Fastow is charged with helping mastermind financial schemes that led to the energy giant's bankruptcy just over two years ago.


If he reaches a plea agreement, he could implicate his bosses, former Enron CEOs Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay, who are still under investigation but have not been charged.


Lea Fastow's attorney, Michael DeGuerin, was baffled by the judge's decision, saying, "We're somewhat puzzled as what to do."


"If there's an agreement she would serve five months and only five months," DeGuerin said. "You'd have to be a mother to fully understand. She has two children, 5 and 8, and five months works. Anything more than that doesn't."He emphasized his client was taken in on minor charges, and did not deserve the maximum sentence.Lea Fastow is charged with six counts -- including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy and filing false tax returns -- for collaborating with her husband in the alleged scheme years after she left the company.


Andrew Fastow is facing 98 counts, including wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy related to Enron's collapse. He has pleaded not guilty and a trial is scheduled for April 20.


Both are now free on bond.


The Justice Department had no comment, nor did Gordon Andrew, a spokesman for the Fastows.

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Wed, 01-14-2004 - 9:27am
Update:



Fastows expected to plead guilty


Sources say former Enron CFO and his wife to accept deal in Houston federal court Wednesday.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/01/14/news/companies/enron_fastows/index.htm?cnn=yes


Former Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow and his wife have agreed to plead guilty for their roles in the accounting scandal that rocked the corporate world and brought down the energy giant, sources with knowledge of the case said Tuesday.


The sources, who asked not to be identified, would not disclose details of the agreement.




It's expected the couple will enter their pleas in federal court in Houston Wednesday, the sources said, adding that any deal could still fall apart.


Fastow spokesman Gordon Andrew refused comment on the report. The Justice Department also had no comment.


Fastow and his wife Lea Fastow have been negotiating with the government to try to reach a deal for months. An attorney for Lea Fastow said last week the two were trying to get an agreement that would allow one of them to remain at home with their two children while the other was serving prison time.


Andrew Fastow is the highest-ranking executive charged in the Enron scandal, and is the alleged mastermind behind the web of complex accounting deals that was the downfall of the energy company. A tentative trial date is set for April 20 for him.


If a plea agreement is indeed reached, Fastow could implicate his bosses, former Enron CEOs Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay, who are still under investigation but have not been charged.


Lea Fastow, once an assistant treasurer at Enron, is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy and filing false tax returns for collaborating with her husband in the alleged scheme years after she left the company.


Lea Fastow was scheduled to stand trial Feb. 10.

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Wed, 01-14-2004 - 11:21am




FASTOW
David J. Phillip / AP file


Former Enron executives
agree to plead guilty

AP: Fastows to admit roles
in 2001 accounting scandal

Lea Fastow, left, and her husband, former Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow, in a May 2003 file photograph.


The Associated Press

Updated: 12:06 a.m.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 01-14-2004 - 8:21pm
All of the employees and stockholders of Enron (except the members of the board) should be allowed to loot the board members houses, and recoup lost monies from the boardmembers personal holdings.

This is the part of the law that needs to be changed. If you are a CEO...etc. and are criminally negligent or commit fraud, then you forfeit not only the profits you made on the stock in question, but your personal assets would also come into play.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Thu, 01-22-2004 - 11:34am




Ex-Enron accounting officer indicted.


http://money.cnn.com/2004/01/22/news/companies/enron_causey/index.htm?cnn=yes




Causey accused of fraud for allegedly helping Fastow hide debt, fraudulently boost profit.


Former Enron Corp. accounting chief Richard Causey has been indicted on five counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday.


Causey is in federal custody in Houston after turning himself in to authorities, a source familiar with the situation told CNN. Video from Houston affiliate KHOU showed Causey being led into the FBI building, escorted by a U.S. marshal.


Causey's surrender comes after former Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow and his wife -- a former assistant treasurer with the company -- pleaded guilty last week to three counts between them as part of deals reached with federal prosecutors.


Both Fastows will serve time in prison for their crimes.


Houston-based Enron was the nation's leading energy trading company until it was forced to restate earnings and slash the value of its shareholder equity in the weeks that led up to a bankruptcy filing in December 2001.

cl-Libraone





 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Thu, 02-19-2004 - 11:36am

Looks as though

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Fri, 02-20-2004 - 9:40am

Enron's Lay not charged, not off hook. Investigators reviewing stock trades, finances.


 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Sat, 04-10-2004 - 1:47pm

Feeling a little paranoid Mr. Skilling?


Will he start wandering the streets in a bathrobe & slippers?

 


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