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To: Cactus Jack who wrote (60537)	1/14/2004 5:38:47 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 65232

He's agreed to bring the house down on all Enron shenanigans or face all 98 counts against him..... UPDATE 1-Fastow pleads guilty to Enron charges Wed January 14, 2004 04:03 PM ET (Updates with Fastow plea) HOUSTON, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Former Enron Corp. (ENRNQ.PK: Quote, Profile, Research) Chief Financial Officer Andrew <font size=4>Fastow pleaded guilty on Wednesday to two criminal counts and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for 10 years in prison. Fastow, 42, also said he would forfeit $23.8 million in assets, most of which were previously frozen by federal authorities. The deal is contingent on the conclusion of a plea bargain between prosecutors and his wife, former Enron assistant treasurer Lea Fastow, which was expected later in the day, authorities said. Fastow, who was indicted on 98 criminal counts, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud. He was accused of cooking the company's books to hide debt and artificially boost profits while siphoning off millions of dollars to his own bank accounts. <font size=3> Fastow is the highest-ranking former executive of the now-bankrupt energy company to plead guilty in the two-year-old federal investigation, and he may have information that could lead to others, attorneys said. Still not charged in the scandal that opened a window on wider U.S. corporate corruption are former Enron Chairman Ken Lay and former Chief Executive Officer Jeff Skilling, both of whom have proclaimed their innocence. reuters.com

To: Cactus Jack who wrote (60537)	1/14/2004 8:21:34 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

Who penned this? ....The administrator takes Hiwa and me on a tour of the building, where thousands of documents are stacked floor to ceiling in each office. If the Hussein regime could be credited with anything, it would be with keeping obsessively complete records of the atrocities the regime itself committed. (Pol Pot and Hitler shared this habit.) Many of the death warrants are signed by Hussein. Our tour ends in a room of moldy documents piled head-high and wall to wall, representing some of the lives claimed under this horrific regime. Our guide makes the point simply: "We will put all these names in a museum as a way to say thank you to all those who sacrificed their lives on the long road to reach freedom." It's a reminder that it wasn't only the Americans and coalition forces that "liberated" the country. There were tens of thousands of Iraqis who lost their lives opposing the regime as well..... ....For Iraqis, there was no pro-war or anti-war movement last spring when the United States invaded their country. That, in their view, was a predominantly Western debate. They're used to war; they're used to gunshots. What's new is this tiny seed and taste of freedom. It is a compelling experience to have been in Baghdad just one year ago, where not a single Iraqi expressed to me opinions outside Baathist party lines, and just one year later, when so many express their opinions and so many opinions compete for attention. Where the debate is similar to that in the United States is over the way in which the business of war will administer the opportunity for peace and freedom, and the reasonable expectation of Iraqi self-rule..... sfgate.com . . Sean Penn

To: Cactus Jack who wrote (60537)	1/23/2004 8:34:46 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

Experts: Causey May Be Key in Enron Case By KRISTEN HAYS AP Business Writer HOUSTON (AP)--Richard Causey, the newest defendant in the sprawling investigation of Enron Corp.'s implosion, could be a crucial link to the company's former titans if he ends up cooperating with prosecutors, experts said Friday. ``In any type of financial fraud, once you nail the numbers guys, the house comes crashing down,'' said Robert Mintz, a former federal prosecutor and an expert in white-collar crime. ``That's what the government is trying to do now by indicting Causey and trying to put pressure on him.'' Causey pleaded innocent to conspiracy and fraud charges Thursday. His lawyers declared he has done nothing wrong, and will fight accusations that he was the principal architect of schemes that fooled investors and Wall Street into believing Enron was a powerhouse. The Justice Department cracked the 50th floor that once housed Enron's executive suite last week by securing cooperation from former finance chief Andrew Fastow, who pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy. Causey's office was next to Fastow's on that floor, and both were near the more opulent digs occupied by former chairman Kenneth Lay and former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling. ``It's possible for the accountant not to know what is going on,'' said Lawrence D. Brown, an accounting professor at Georgia State University. ``But it's very difficult to do this stuff and keep the accountant in the dark,'' Brown said. ``If the information was incorrect, and the accountant wasn't in on the game, it's harder to get away with it without the accountant at least questioning it or being encouraged to go along with the game.'' Fastow admitted that he and others manipulated publicly reported financial results to mislead investors, pump up the company's stock and maintain creditworthiness. He also admitted engaging in schemes to enrich himself and others at Enron's expense, and agreed to hand over nearly $24 million in ill-gotten cash and property. Unlike Fastow, Causey isn't accused of skimming millions of dollars for himself from shady deals. So he would bring less baggage if he were to end up cooperating, Mintz said. Causey's indictment notes that he gained more than $14 million from selling Enron stock and stock options--netting a profit in excess of $5 million--and earned more than $3 million in salary and bonuses from 1998 through late 2001. Plenty of other executives cashed in on Enron's stock price, which hit a high of $90 in August 2000. But Causey is accused of being central to various schemes that are spokes in the wheel of the Justice Department's two-year investigation. ``He's a very important participant in the transactions,'' said Mark Biros, a former federal prosecutor in Washington. ``Whether the transactions were legal or not, the government will have to prove that.'' Allegations common to the indictments against Fastow and Causey include use of complicated off-the-books partnerships and financing methods to hide debt and poorly performing assets. These include an allegation that Causey had a secret agreement with Fastow that Fastow wouldn't lose money when his partnerships did business with Enron. Other allegations in Causey's indictment include that he was involved in: • Using energy trading profits as a slush fund to make Enron Energy Services, the company's retail energy unit, appear profitable. David Delainey, former chief executive of EES, pleaded guilty to insider trading in October, admitting involvement in rerouting the profits. Wesley Colwell, former chief accountant of Enron's defunct trading unit, Enron North America, earlier agreed to pay $500,000 to settle Securities and Exchange Commission allegations involving the same scheme. Both are cooperating with prosecutors, though Colwell has not been charged with any crime and did not admit or deny involvement in agreeing to his settlement. • Inflating values of merchant assets, such as oil and gas exploration company Mariner Energy, to appear to have met earnings targets. Delainey's indictment and Colwell's SEC settlement noted a scheme to help cover an earnings shortfall in 2000 by inflating Mariner's value. Enron failed to reduce Mariner's value in later quarters. Enron still owns Mariner, which isn't in Chapter 11 with the parent and other subsidiaries. • Concealing the failure of the Enron Broadband Services unit. Causey's indictment alleges that in early 2001 he and others manipulated EBS's expenses so the unit, which had been touted to analysts by Skilling, would appear to meet its earnings targets. Two former EBS executives, Kevin Howard and Michael Krautz, are facing trial in October on charges of conspiracy, fraud and lying to investigators for allegedly faking $111 million in earnings for the unit. ajc.com