Enron trial's star witness to take stage

[WhiteTara]

I've been following the trial and this was a good day for the prosecution, next week shoud be stellar
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0603040160mar04,1,1134746.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

Enron trial's star witness to take stage
Was Andrew Fastow a rogue player or an operator with the approval of his bosses?

By Leon Lazaroff
Tribune national correspondent
Published March 4, 2006


He was the architect behind a multibillion-dollar fraud. His youthful face concealed an obsessive desire to occupy a corner office, enter high society and become very rich.

Now he is the government's star witness.

If there is a smoking gun in the trial of Enron's top two former executives, the energy company's onetime finance chief, Andrew Fastow, may be the one to produce it.

snip

Fastow's appearance follows testimony from David Delainey, former head of the Enron Energy Services retail division, who directly implicated Skilling in the fraud. Delainey told how at a March 2001 meeting that included Skilling, it was decided to hide more than $200 million in losses in order to sustain the impression that the company was healthy and growing.

Building on Delainey's accusation, Fastow is expected to assert that either Skilling or Lay or both men were well aware that the series of "off-balance-sheet" partnerships he created and managed violated federal accounting rules. Using colorful names culled from the movie "Star Wars," the partnerships "Chewco," "Raptor" and another called LJM, using the initials of Fastow's wife and children, served mostly to park unprofitable assets or market losses so that Enron could close the gap between its actual business performance and Wall Street expectations.

much more
:popcorn:

[salin]

1. grabbing a bagel and coffee

rather than popcorn - as I go read this.

At the time of the implosion, and later the AA papershredding fiasco, the Trib's business section did a pretty good job reporting on the story.

[UTUSN]

2. All of the daily reports of testimony has been DAMNING, yet

why can't I shake the feeling that 4 months from now we'll be hearing, "NOT guilty on all counts"? (I'll keep repeating this post for 4 months.)

[WhiteTara]

5. I don't think so, but we could hear

"pardoned by the chimp". Unlike Scrushy, Kenny Boy didn't set a Christian TV sob show so that the apathetics could say, oh poor Kenny Boy, he's been bathed in the blood. No, I think he will go down. He made too many enemies and had too many people do bad things.

[Octafish]

3. Any mention of deceased witness Cliff Baxter?

The guy was only the vice chairman, an honest fellow disturbed by the goings-on, and interested in getting a bodyguard from what his friends said.

The strange and convenient death of J. Clifford Baxter—Enron executive found shot to death

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/jan2002/enro-j28.shtml

Former Enron exec dies in apparent suicide

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/01/25/enron.suicide/

I don't believe his death was a suicide. I believe he was silenced to prevent his testifying the connections of ENRON to the Bush Crime Family.

[WhiteTara]

4. so far the trial hasn't mentioned Baxter

and I agree with you that he was killed to silence him. I don't think this trial will go into the ties between bu$hco and kenny boy. I would love that to come out during the energy policy fix trials (when will those be you ask? I can only hope in our lifetime)

[Orangeone]

6. Andy Fastow

He looks like a young Paul Wolfowitz.