Fastow's to plead Guilty!

[packetjunkie]

Former Enron CFO Fastow, Wife to Plead Guilty
Tuesday, January 13, 2004

HOUSTON — The impasse over plea agreements for former Enron (search) CFO Andrew S. Fastow (search) and his wife has been resolved, paving the way for both to plead guilty for their roles in the energy giant's collapse in 2001, Fox News has learned.

At least one federal court hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, where the couple is expected to plead guilty, sources told Fox News. However, any plea agreements must meet the court's approval.

If the deals are accepted, Fastow will become the highest-ranking executive to plead guilty in the federal government's criminal investigation into the Enron collapse.

It wasn't immediately clear whether Fastow's negotiated plea involves an agreement to help the government develop cases against Enron's former top executives, Kenneth Lay (search) and Jeffrey Skilling (search). Neither Lay nor Skilling has been charged; both maintain their innocence.

The Fastows were expected to enter their pleas Wednesday in federal court, according to the sources, both of whom are close to the investigation.

Lea Fastow (search) is expected to plead guilty to a tax charge after her husband pleads guilty in a deal that involves a 10-year prison sentence and a fine of at least $20 million. It wasn't clear Tuesday what crimes Andrew Fastow would plead guilty to.

Bryan Sierra, spokesman for the Justice Department, declined comment. Mike DeGeurin, Lea Fastow's lead attorney, and John Keker, her husband's lead attorney, didn't immediately return calls for comment. Fastow family spokesman Gordon Andrew also declined comment.

Lawyers for the government and for Lea Fastow had been expected to appear before U.S. District Judge David Hittner on Wednesday for a routine hearing to discuss potential jurors in her criminal trial set for Feb. 10.

The Houston Chronicle first reported the Fastows' plea agreements in its online edition Tuesday evening.

A plea deal with Lea Fastow, a former assistant treasurer at Enron, snagged after Hittner balked at a requirement that he sentence her to five months in prison for her alleged role in the accounting schemes. The judge insisted he retain the right to alter her sentence.

The issue threatened a proposed package of plea agreements for both the Fastows, who have two young sons.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, Hittner will consider a prison term of 10 months to 16 months for the tax charge, said Kirby Behre, a former federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. The judge could depart from that range, and a 10-month sentence could be structured so that only half would be served in prison.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt, who is presiding over Andrew Fastow's case, will accept his plea, sources have said.

Andrew Fastow, who was indicted in October 2002, is charged with 98 counts of insider trading, fraud, money laundering, tax violations and others for allegedly running a complicated web of partnerships and financing methods that hid debt, inflated profits and funneled millions of dollars to him, his family, friends and colleagues.

His wife is charged with six counts of conspiracy and filing false tax forms. She is accused of helping her husband make one partnership appear independent of Enron so the company would continue receiving related tax benefits.

Michael Kopper, Fastow's one-time top lieutenant at Enron, led prosecutors to Fastow when he pleaded guilty to conspiracy in August 2002. Fastow was indicted two months later, and his wife was indicted last May.

The day after Kopper's plea, a federal judge froze more than $23 million in bank and brokerage accounts held by the Fastows, their family foundation, his brother, several former Enron employees and two holding companies. Also frozen was $3.9 million from the 2002 sale of a three-story, 11,493-square-foot mansion the Fastows built in Houston's wealthiest neighborhood, River Oaks, where Skilling and Lay live.

Behre called a 10-year sentence for Andrew Fastow "excellent" — given that "what drives sentencing is predominantly the amount of the fraud." Fastow is accused of pocketing at least $45 million from the Enron deals.

Since Fastow could get a prison sentence of at least 20 years if convicted at trial, 10 years is "as close to a sweet deal you can have in this kind of case," Behre said.

The fine should be no less than everything they have in the bank and in assets.

[Hog Whisperer]

Agreed. At the very least it should be what they scammed from the stockholders. Basically, ANY personal gains they had while at Enron.