Wife of Ex-Enron CFO Will Go to Trial

[Danieljay]

In the mean time, no charges have been filed against Ken Lay or Shilling. Where is the outrage? Americans seem to have the shortest memories on the planet. Grrrrr....

Wife of Ex-Enron CFO Will Go to Trial

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040109/ap_on_bi_ge/enron_fastow_47

By KRISTEN HAYS, AP Business Writer

HOUSTON - A judge said Friday that the wife of former Enron finance chief Andrew Fastow would go to trial as planned after a noon deadline for her to accept the judge's conditions on a plea deal passed with no word from her attorneys.

snip

Without a deal for Lea Fastow, a separate plea agreement for Andrew Fastow seemed unlikely, which could hinder the government's investigation of other executives from the failed energy giant, most notably former top executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling.

snip

"We're a little disappointed," said Leslie Caldwell, head of the Justice Department (news - web sites) task force investigating the Enron collapse, as she left the courthouse for a Houston airport. She did not elaborate.

snip

Andrew Fastow, who prosecutors allege arranged a web of schemes to enrich himself and others while inflating Enron's profits and hiding company debt, was negotiating a plea deal that could include 10 years in prison and a fine of at least $20 million, sources close to the case told The Associated Press.

snip

Neither of the top two company executives, Lay and Skilling, has been charged and both maintain their innocence.

snip

Mike Ramsey, Lay's attorney, said Lay has no worries if Fastow tells the truth.

[eek]

1. hmmm NPR report last night suggested

that the plea bargains would ensure that Fastows would give the scoop on kennyboy and schilling

Wonder if the big guy with the violin case showed up at Chez Fastow?

[Jacobin]

2. Simple, really. Just have a Texas repuke operative

Give the Houston federal judge in charge of the case a call and promise to nominate him for an appellate seat in Congress. "Oh, by the way......doncha think that plea deal worked out with Fastow's wife and the prosecutors is not the best thing?" Judge nixes plea deal, no cooperation from Fastow and company and Kenny Boy, et al continue to go to the country club for lunch each day.

[aquart]

3. So my nasty feeling that the judge just tanked the case

is a reasonable emotion?

[dusty64]

16. More than half the judiciary is

bought and paid for. Four more years of this regime will insure there will be NO justice anymore in this Country, maybe forever. The outrages from the injustice system no longer amaze and disgust me, how much longer before the average person ceases to respect and listen to them?

[Say_What]

4. Heard last night that she's looking at about 5 months, but that

he was still trying to strike another deal while maybe doing 10 years. Same report claims that they are still gathering evidence against SmirkBoy's pal KennyBoy.

[Zan_of_Texas]

5. Still gathering evidence?

WTF? All by myself, with one hand tied behind my back, I can gather enough evidence to bring Lay to trial for insider trading. Lay telling everyone Enron is dandy, best time to buy, tell yer friends and family we are doing great, while issuing sell orders.

These people should have had their assets frozen and their passports seized years ago, at a bare minimum. It's a farce.

Fastow was a bad boy, but he shouldn't take the rap for Skilling and Lay and the rest. He's more like the piano player at the whorehouse.

For instance:
Aug. 15, 2001 - The day after Jeff Skilling resigned as CEO of Enron, Enron vice president for corporate development Sherron Watkins sends a detailed anonymous letter warning Ken Lay of "a veil of secrecy" around off-the-books partnerships and predicts the company will "implode in a wave of accounting scandals."

Aug. 20, 2001 – Ken Lay, in an interview with Business Week, says, "There are absolutely no problems that had anything to do with Jeff's departure. There are no accounting issues, no trading issues, no reserve issues, no previously unknown problem issues. The company is probably in the strongest and best shape that it has ever been in. There are no surprises. . . . There is no other shoe to fall." http/www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/aug2001/nf20010824_288.htm

Aug. 21, 2001 - Lay sends a letter to Enron employees seeking to reassure them that the company is on solid footing: "One of my highest priorities is to restore investor confidence in Enron. This should result in a significantly higher stock price." He meets with Sherron Watkins on Aug. 22.

On Aug. 21, Lay begins a flurry of Enron stock sales, using an reporting loophole called Form 5 that allows him not to report the sales until the following February.

August 21 he sells 110,706 shares @ $36.25
August 23 . . . 108,254 . . . @ $36.95
August 24 . . . 110,041 . . . @$36.35
August 30 . . . 112,706 . . . @$35.50
Sept. 4 . . . 114,346 . . . @$35.00

Over fifteen days, he sells over half a million shares (556,053) raising $20 million. This is just the latest of his gambits to constantly sell Enron stock -- he sold $75 million in Enron stock in 1999 and 2000, after the stock hit its peak, and while insiders including Arthur Andersen were trading information that something was wrong. In 2001, as the company slides toward bankruptcy, he sells $100 million of Enron stock.

[The Stranger]

6. Get it straight.

Wasn't someone here posting yesterday that she was a former Enron executive as well? That the press keeps painting her as so-and-so's wife, when in fact she was a company employee?

[demdave]

7. They will Tammy Faye Baker her.

The poor little thing didn't have ANY idea what her nasty ol' husband was doing. All she wanted was an air conditioned dog house. Leave her alone. <sarcasm>

[TeeYiYi]

8. I don't see this as a bad thing. . .

The judge didn't think 5 months was long enough for her. Neither do I. If this goes to trial, she'll get years not months. She won't let that happen. There's still a deal to be made. She'll just have to agree to more time behind bars in exchange for it.

TYY

[readmylips]

9. Many parents go to jail in America daily ...

mother and father, and the kids are placed with family or in guardian homes. Their kids are raised by nannys anyway. Who cares if those two go to jail for a long time. Why are these fooking rich people think that they need special bending of law that only benefits them? The richer they are, the more jail they should get...bastards!

[cap]

14. especially when they're not voting to fund Social Services properly!!!

Let their kids suffer the same fate as poor families!

[Judi Lynn]

10. The people they meet in prison would probably be more wholesome

than the snakes they've been working with at Enron. Prison might be a GOOD influence.


perp walk for Leah

[0007]

13. That was a good wholesome funny, ya got me going on that!

The women is the photo has that same look on her kisser as the one Linda Tripp use to wear.

[saigon68]

15. What a Pair

Disgusting. Why is she on trial? Did she work for the Company?

[0rganism]

11. Maybe someone handed her a photo of Cliff Baxter?

I dunno, just a thought.

[0007]

12. Ya think junior is involved?

Enron is still the biggest contributor to the Bush reelect campaign.

Ya think 'Kenny boy' is going to jail. I don't. Ya think Jeff Skillings is gonna go to jail? I don't.

Do ya think they'll shave some time off of the Fastow prison sentence for their silence, with a big reward when they've been pardoned in a few years? I do!

I wish I wasn't so negative this morning!