Category Archives: Enronarama

With the Fastows in the bag, Kenny Boy Lay is looking to cover his hiney by getting out in front of the Enron story. “He’ll be talking soon,” attorney Mike Ramsey said during a news conference he called to discuss … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Fastows have made their pleas. Andrew Fastow, the ex-Enron chief financial officer, pleaded guilty at 2:30 p.m. today to two counts of conspiracy and agreed to accept a 10-year prison sentence and forfeit $23.8 million to the federal government. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a deal. Andrew Fastow, the former chief financial officer, is expected to plead guilty in return for a 10-year prison term. His likely cooperation with prosecutors could start other dominoes falling — and either clear … Continue reading → Continue reading →

There’s still no deal for a plea bargain involving Andy and Lea Fastow, thanks to the judge in the Lea Fastow case imposing some conditions that she isn’t willing to accept. On Friday, the deals stalled when Lea Fastow was … Continue reading → Continue reading →

On to a more pleasant topic: Both Andy and Lea Fastow are reportedly in plea bargain negotiations with federal prosuctors that could net them jail time. Federal prosecutors are discussing a 10-year sentence for Andrew Fastow, and the plea bargain … Continue reading → Continue reading →

It was two years ago today that Enron officially imploded, and the good news is that its former employees seem to be mostly back on their feet. Two years ago today it all came crashing down at Enron Corp. Two … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The special examiner who’s been doing a postmortem on the Enron collapse has released his final report, in which he lays blame at the feet of Kenny Boy Lay and Jeff Skilling. Atlanta-based examiner Neal Batson also suggests that the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

From today’s Chron: Lea Fastow, the wife of ex-Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow, is in negotiations with prosecutors for a plea bargain that could send her to federal prison for five months or more. She could appear in court … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Yet another Enron exec has copped a plea. Former Enron executive David Delainey, a close business associate of former CEO Jeff Skilling, pleaded guilty today to one count of insider trading and agreed to cooperate in the government’s Enron investigations. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I guess I hadn’t been following the recent Enron goings-on all that closely, because I was unaware that Lea Fastow’s lawyers had petitioned for a change of venue, a request that the judge will rule on shortly. I knew they’d … Continue reading → Continue reading →

You know, I was just thinking that what the world really needs right now is a rap CD about the fall of Enron. The words “Enron” and “rap” don’t normally go together unless someone’s talking about “taking the rap for … Continue reading → Continue reading →

What could be sweeter than the prospect of Karl Rove doing the frog march? How about Ken Lay doing the perp walk? Federal regulators have asked a federal court to force former Enron Corp. Chairman Ken Lay to hand over … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Former Enron treasurer Ben Glisan pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and security fraud, earning him five years in Club Fed plus some post-prison supervision time. All other charges against him, which were part of a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Hmm, this could get interesting. Indicted ex-Enron Treasurer Ben Glisan Jr. is negotiating a plea bargain and cooperation agreement with federal prosecutors. Glisan, one of the highest ranking Enron officials before he was fired for his involvement in a side-deal, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Enron has put its its main building at 1400 Smith Street (affectionately known as the Speed Stick Building, at least by me) on the auction block. Its remaining employees will move into nearby Four Houston Center. This means there will … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Enron’s bankruptcy reorganization plan has been completed and filed. This is pretty much all you need to know: Two years ago, Enron claimed $67 billion in assets. Today, it has at least $67 billion in debt. […] Creditors of parent … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Lawyers for Lea Fastow are asking that her trial be delayed until after her husband, former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow, has been tried, on the grounds that he has unique exculpatory testimony to offer on her behalf. The request extends … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Federal prosecutors are preparing to announce charges against seven more Enron executives, including Lea “Wife of Andrew” Fastow. Get the cuffs, Ponch! The former executives to be named today are Ken Rice and Joe Hirko, co-chief executive officers of Enron … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Those crackpots at Judicial Watch have taken a break from trying to prove that Vince Foster was murdered and have turned their attention to Houston and the death of former Enron executive Cliff Baxter. Judicial Watch, a self-described “public interest … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Two sizeable articles in the Chron today about the state of the Enron criminal and forensic accounting investigations. This first one asks the question why the feds have mostly bagged small fry instead of the big fish, Fastow excepted: There … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The long-awaited book Power Failure, by Enron quasi-whistleblower Sherron Watkins, is due out tomorrow, and it has some juicy stuff in it: Among the anecdotes: · CEO Jeff Skilling would ponder aloud whether Chairman Ken Lay understood Enron and how … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Back here on the domestic front, four Merrill Lynch execs have been charged with civil fraud (which sounds more like an oxymoron than a legal term) in helping that accursed company cook its books. Charged with civil fraud were Schuyler … Continue reading → Continue reading →

As expected, the feds arrested two Enron Broadband Services executives and charged them with a variety of fraud-related offenses for their role in the whole EBS/Blockbuster/movies-on-demand fiasco. As is so often the case with these Enron arrests, there’s a nugget … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Prosecutors are preparing to file charges against a number of Enron Broadband Services (EBS) executives for various shady deals involving movies-on-demand over the Internet. It’s the usual gaggle of booking vast future projected earnings as current income, accounting skulduggery, and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’ve given my share of beatings to Kenny Boy Lay for his role in the Enron implosion. One of the main reasons why people like me have believed in Lay’s culpability was his steady selloff of Enron stock in 2001, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Here’s yet another report of Enron’s evildoing, this one about a variety of questionably legal tactics to skirt tax laws. I could quote large bits of this, but I think the following sums up everything you need to know: Enron … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Enron prosecution team is deciding where they want to go next, now that they’ve gotten a pretty good picture of how it all went down. The main question at this point is who’s next, and who’s after that. “Obviously, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Ken and Linda Lay have been sued by Enron’s creditors, who allege that they still owe money for loans that they paid back in Enron stock. They were doing this up into November of 2001, just before the Dynegy deal … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Former Enron employees pretty much hated The Crooked E, that cheeserrific made-for-CBS movie from a couple of weeks ago. Of nearly 200 SEEC [Severed Enron Employees Coalition] members who responded to an e-mail survey, 58 percent found the CBS movie, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

New Attorney General Greg Abbott has some harsh words for Enron’s bankruptcy attorneys: Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott blasted Enron’s bankruptcy attorneys Monday, saying they are “lining their pockets” with fees at the expense of taxpayers, former employees and investors. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

If you managed to sit through The Crooked E for any length of time this past Sunday (about 20 minutes was all I could take), you might have noticed that pretty much all of the female employees portrayed at Enron … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Like it or not, the CBS movie The Crooked E was a ratings winner, both in Houston, where it was #1 in the time slot, and nationally, where it was #2. The article quotes various critics who offered mostly mixed … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I tried, I really did, to watch The Crooked E last night, but after about 20 minutes of inane dialogue and Houston stereotyping, I gave up. I bought Tiffany a boxed set of the Harry Potter books from Amazon UK … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Crooked E, a “tell all” TV movie about Enron (see here and here) finally makes it to the small screen on Sunday. Chron TV critic Mike McDaniel is not impressed. An exceptional scandal cries out for exceptional storytelling. CBS’ … Continue reading → Continue reading →