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Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling was sentenced today to 24 years in prison for his role in the energy company's 2001 collapse in what become one of the nation's biggest corporate scandals. U.S. District Judge Sim Lake ordered Skilling to home confinement with an ankle bracelet to monitor his movements. He told the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to recommend when Skilling should report to prison and suggested he be sent to the federal facility in Butler, N.C. "This is not an easy decision,'' Lake said. "Sentencing is the most difficult and least pleasant part of my job Mr. Skilling has...

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Government star witness Andrew Fastow repeatedly admitted during cross-examination on Thursday he was a liar and a cheat as the defense tried to refute his testimony that former Enron Corp. chief executives Jeffrey Skilling and Ken Lay covered up their company's crumbling finances. He said he had no written documents to back up his allegations against his former bosses, but said they were part of a broad conspiracy among Enron executives to mislead investors while enriching themselves. "I was suggesting the senior management at Enron, not only Mr. Skilling, engaged in a pattern of actions that painted...

While bankruptcy is almost always the end of the line for common-equity shareholders, sometimes the companies themselves re-emerge with a new lease on life. Although airlines seem to habitually dip in and out of bankruptcy, other companies in fields such as telecommunications, retail, and power generation have made something of themselves on the other side of Chapter 11. On which side of the fence will independent power producer Mirant (NYSE: MIR - News) find itself? Having spent nearly three years in bankruptcy, the company emerged 70 days ago with a cleaner balance sheet and, hopefully, a better operating plan. Because...

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Former Enron Corp. Chairman Ken Lay on Tuesday said he was the victim of a "wave of terror" by prosecutors and blamed his former chief financial officer for the energy company's spectacular downfall. In a preview of his defense at his criminal trial next month, Lay, in a speech to a Houston group, said he was only to blame for trusting Andrew Fastow, Enron's CFO, who has pleaded guilty to charges and will be the government's key witness against Lay and co-defendants. "We did trust Andy Fastow, and sadly, tragically, that trust turned out to be misplaced,"...

A judge today refused to release Lea Fastow, the wife of Enron's Andrew Fastow, from prison early. Details to come.

When a forest fire shut down a major transmission line into California, cutting power supplies and raising prices, Enron energy traders celebrated, CBS News Correspondent reports. "Burn, baby, burn. That's a beautiful thing," a trader sang about the massive fire. Four years after California's disastrous experiment with energy deregulation, Enron energy traders can be heard – on audiotapes obtained by CBS News – gloating and praising each other as they helped bring on, and cash-in on, the Western power crisis. "He just f---s California," says one Enron employee. "He steals money from California to the tune of about a million."...

HOUSTON, Jan. 9 - Plea negotiations collapsed on Friday between the government and two prominent defendants in the Enron criminal cases, people involved in the case said. The development upends a significant advance in the two-year investigation that was expected to speed prosecutors' efforts to unravel the full story behind the company's collapse. The defendants - Andrew S. Fastow, Enron's former chief financial officer, and his wife, Lea, a former assistant treasurer - had tentatively accepted a deal this week to plead guilty, with Mr. Fastow agreeing to cooperate with the continuing investigation. But a series of public statements by...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Andrew Fastow, the former chief financial officer of bankrupt energy trader Enron Corp., and his wife, Lea, are negotiating plea bargains that could send the couple to federal prison, the Houston Chronicle reported Wednesday. Federal prosecutors are discussing a 10-year sentence for Andrew Fastow and a five-month term for Lea Fastow, the newspaper reported, citing unnamed sources. The deals could still collapse, as earlier negotiations with Lea Fastow did in November, the paper reported. A representative for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas was not reachable for comment. John Keker, Andrew Fastow's...

A plea bargain appears to have fallen through for Lea Fastow, the wife of ex-Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow. Plea bargain negotiations between Lea Fastow and the government broke down last week. Friday U.S. District Judge David Hittner got the case back on track by ruling that her February trial will not be moved from Houston and attorneys will not be allowed to individually question all potential jurors, as the defense had requested. In the last few weeks Lea Fastow's lawyers have been negotiating with prosecutors about a possible five-month prison term for her but it appears that deal...

Lea Fastow, the wife of ex-Enron CFO Andrew Fastow, is in negotiations with prosecutors for a plea bargain that could send her to federal prison for five or more months. She could appear in court as early as next week to agree to, and possibly begin, a prison term, sources said. But the deal being discussed could still dissolve. Enron Task Force prosecutors, Lea Fastow and U.S. District Judge David Hittner all have to be in agreement for a plea to be consummated. "People who don't understand the charges involved here will probably be horrified if she goes to prison,"...

Millions of documents involved make October date unlikely Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle The case against former Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow and two others may not go to trial until next spring and could take as long as four months to try. During a scheduling conference Monday morning, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt called the government's plans to start the trial this October "a little optimistic," noting the millions of documents, dozens of charges and the recent addition of two new defendants. Hoyt said it was possible it could take until next spring to allow defense attorneys to properly...

HOUSTON, May 1 — Federal prosecutors unsealed indictments today against 11 former Enron executives, including charges that the once-vaunted success of the company's high-speed Internet business was largely an illusion. In addition, the government charged three new defendants with participating in illegal deals with Enron's former chief financial officer, Andrew S. Fastow, using those deals both to enrich themselves and improperly manipulate the company's financial performance. Among those defendants was Mr. Fastow's wife, Lea, who was charged in a separate indictment with committing fraud by aiding her husband in certain schemes. The unusual single-day disclosure of three distinct indictments in...

WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - U.S. authorities said on Thursday that former executives of collapsed energy trader Enron Corp. (ENRNQ) conspired with investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co. (MER) to pad Enron's balance sheet in a scheme involving electricity power barges in Nigeria. In announcing expanded charges brought against the former executives, the U.S. Justice Department said the executives worked with Merrill "to fraudulently improve Enron's balance sheet by illegally 'parking' poorly performing Enron assets." The assets, consisting of power barges moored off the coast of Nigeria, were the subject of extensive Senate investigations some months ago. The Justice Department...

After more than a year of investigations into the collapse of Enron, the government will announce today the most significant indictments yet, charging eight new defendants with participating in frauds at the company, people involved in the case said yesterday. The indictments, which these people said would be unsealed this morning in Federal District Court in Houston, will name a raft of officers and their associates as participants in different fraud schemes. These defendants include a former treasurer, a former head of one of Enron's most prominent divisions and the wife of the former chief financial officer, who himself is...

April 30, 2003, 11:15PM Fastow's wife, 7 others target of Enron charges By MARY FLOOD and TOM FOWLER Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle After filing at least one sealed indictment Wednesday evening, prosecutors are expected this morning to announce charges against seven former Enron employees and Lea Fastow, the wife of the company's former chief financial officer. All but one are expected to surrender to federal authorities this morning and will likely be paraded into the courthouse in handcuffs. The former executives to be named today are expected to be Ken Rice and Joe Hirko, co-chief executive officers of Enron Broadband...

<p>HOUSTON -- Andrew Fastow, the Enron executive who masterminded the financial schemes that brought down the company, was charged Wednesday with inflating the energy giant's profits and siphoning off millions for himself, his family and friends. The former chief financial officer is the biggest Enron figure charged by the Justice Department so far. Prosecutors may use him to build a case against other insiders, including former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling and former chairman Kenneth Lay.</p>

Ex-Enron CFO Fastow surrenders to FBI By FT.com staff in New York Published: October 2 2002 15:38 | Last Updated: October 2 2002 15:38 Andrew Fastow, Enron's former chief financial officer, came out of the Houston FBI office in handcuffs on Wednesday after surrendering on criminal charges of defrauding shareholders through deals made at the now bankrupt company. Mr Fastow made no comment as federal agents took him to a federal courthouse in Houston where he is to be formally charged. A federal bankruptcy judge in New York authorised the committee of unsecured creditors on Tuesday to start litigation in...