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Ellen Podgor on the trial penalty
Stetson College of Law Professor Ellen S. Podgor, who authors the popular White Collar Crime Prof Blog, has written an important law review article on a key issue that is confronting defense attorneys and courts in this age of...
The reeling prosecution in the Skilling case
On the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision earlier this year to hear Conrad Black's appeal of his criminal conviction on honest services wire-fraud charges under 18 U.S.C. § 1346 ("Section 1346), the Court yesterday granted former Enron...
The Chronicle's continuing Enron hypocrisy
Being generally an optimistic sort, I keep thinking that the financial crisis of the past year or so will eventually prompt the Houston Chronicle to reconsider its generally biased coverage of the demise of Enron over the past seven...
Chalk up another trial penalty deal
With no valid case against former Enron Broadband CFO Kevin Howard, what was the Department of Justice to do? Rattle the saber of the trial penalty and cut a deal. On one hand, the deal appears to be an...
The state of the Skilling case
The attorneys for former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday, which is quite interesting and is being widely reported in the mainstream media. However, as interesting as...
Permanent Enron myopia
Inasmuch as what took place with regard to Enron earlier in the decade has now happened to much of Wall Street, the vacuity of the Houston Chronicle's coverage of Enron-related matters has become clear. Nevertheless, Chronicle business columnist Loren...
The Fifth Circuit rules in the Skilling appeal
In this current anti-business climate, not many folks were expecting that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals would set aside former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's conviction. On the other hand, not many folks expected this decision, either. In the...
That other hurricane
So, while the Houston area was enduring a hurricane, the financial markets were enduring one, too. As with Enron and Bear Stearns, the demise of Lehman Brothers reinforces the inherently fragile nature of a trust-based business (related posts here). ...
So, what's the difference?
Mel Weiss was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison yesterday for making undisclosed payments to class representatives in class action lawsuits that his firm handled. As noted here about a year ago, Weiss didn't have much of a choice given...
Look at what Mary Flood has been reading
Chronicle legal reporter Mary Flood covered many of the Enron-related criminal trials, so it was only natural for her to pick up a copy of former Enron Task Force prosecutor, law professor and current Oregon attorney general candidate John...
The Wall Street Journal's Enron embarrassment
In anticipation of the oral argument on Wednesday in New Orleans on former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's appeal of his criminal conviction, don't miss this Larry Ribstein post on Wall Street Journal Enron reporter John Emshwiller's tardy realization that...
The Enron Task Force laid bare
In this previous post on former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's Supplemental Brief regarding prosecutorial misconduct in connection with covering up exculpatory evidence contained former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow's interview notes, I noted that the Skilling brief would likely have...
The Economist gets it
Following on recent posts here and here, The Economist produces the best mainstream media article that I've seen to date placing the prosecutorial misconduct of the Enron Task Force toward former Enron executives Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay in...
The stench of prosecutorial abuse
The stench of prosecutorial abuse has long hung over the Enron-related criminal cases. But the extent of that abuse became crystal clear this afternoon when the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's motion to...
More rumblings in the Skilling appeal
This post from last week noted some interesting docket entries in former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's Fifth Circuit appeal of his conviction on criminal charges in connection with the demise of Enron. Now, it looks as if the mainstream media...
What's going on in the Skilling appeal?
First, thank you to all of the many readers who have communicated their concerns and prayers for the family crisis that is precluding me from daily blogging for now. Your kind thoughts and words are comforting and much appreciated....
Maintaining Enron myths
Ever wonder how the mainstream media maintains Enron-related myths? In reporting on the sentencing hearing later this week in the Enron-related case of the three former UK bankers dubbed "the NatWest Three" (prior posts here), the Chronicle's Kristen Hays observes...
Criminalizing Capitalism
If I didn't know better, I'd say that Nicole Gelinas has been reading (H/T Professor Bainbridge) my blog over the past several years: [I]n the end, Sarbanes-Oxley has just made it easier for ambitious government attorneys to criminalize bad business...
Another Enron Task Force alum rings the bell
Fresh off his victory in the Joseph Nacchio trial, former Enron Task Force prosecutor Cliff Stricklin is the latest former Enron Task Force prosecutor to land a cush job at a big firm. Sean Berkowitz and Andrew Weissmann, among other...
The Fastow notes
The big Enron-related news this week was the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to hear the appeal of the Fifth Circuit's decision to dismiss securities fraud claims against several of Enron's banks (Ted Frank explains the decision). In light of the...
The rotting Enron criminal prosecutions
You won't read about it much in the mainstream media, but the Enron-related criminal prosecutions increasingly smell like a rotting carcass. After Jeff Skilling was lynched by an angry mob, most of the mainstream business media moved on to other...
Behind the scenes in the Skilling appeal and the Nigerian Barge case
I normally throttle down blogging during the holiday season to just one post a day, but I wanted to pass along something that you don't see every day in connection with former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's appeal of his convictions...
The real NatWest Three deal
I gave up hope long ago that the mainstream media would ever provide particularly accurate reports regarding the Enron-related criminal prosecutions. However, the mainstream media news reports on the plea bargain hearing earlier this week in the Enron-related NatWest Three...
The Skilling Appeal Brief
As Ashby Jones and Peter Henning noted on Friday, lawyers for Jeff Skilling filed his appellant's brief this past Friday along with a motion requesting that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals waive length-of-brief rules under the special circumstances of...
The Bill Fuhs of the Conrad Black trial
In this post from last week, I noted the similarities between the federal government's vacuous case against Conrad Black and the notorious prosecution of the four former Merrill Lynch executives in the Enron-related case known as the Nigerian Barge case....
More on the Enronesque prosecution of Conrad Black
David Radler, the key prosecution witness against former Hollinger International chairman and CEO Conrad Black, is currently testifying in the trial. Mark Steyn's blog of the trial continues to be the "go to" site for keeping up with the proceedings....
The Glisan Interview
Tongues were wagging all over Houston this weekend as a result of Wall Street Journal reporter John Emshwiller's exclusive interview ($) with former Enron treasurer and Andy Fastow confidant, Ben Glisan (excerpts of the interview are here). The theme of...
Has the BOP forgotten about Jamie Olis?
Earlier this week, Michael Kopper, one of the few true crooks in the Enron affair, traipsed off to a federal prison in west Texas to begin serving the 37 month sentence that he received in return for his testimony that...
Reacting to Gladwell's Enron article
It's been a week now since Malcolm Gladwell's New Yorker article on the injustice of the case against Jeff Skilling. One of the more revealing reactions to the article resulted from a question that Gladwell posed in this blog post...
The ordeal of Jamie Olis continues
As noted earlier here, former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling will report to a minimum-security prison in Waseca, Minnesota on Tuesday to begin serving the brutal 24 year sentence that he was assessed on October 23rd. On January 2, former Enron...
The injustice of the Jeff Skilling case
In a few days, unless the Fifth Circuit grants his motion to remain free on bond pending appeal of his conviction, Jeff Skilling will report to prison to begin serving a 24-year prison sentence. The image of Skilling entering that...
Kopper and Koenig step up to the plate
Two more former Enron executives who copped pleas will be sentenced this morning, former Andy Fastow confidant, Michael Kopper, and former Enron investor relations chief, Mark Koenig. Both men will likely be presented today as paragons of virtue who simply...
Another dirty secret of the Enron Task Force
Former Enron chief accountant Richard Causey will be sentenced tomorrow by U.S. District Judge Sim Lake, and Causey's sentencing hearing highlights another of the Enron Task Force's dirty secrets that the mainstream media has largely ignored in favor of demonizing...
Fastow singing like a canary
The NY Times' Alexei Barrionuevo provides this entertaining article on former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow's deposition in connection with the various civil lawsuits involving the demise of Enron. Frankly, it's rather remarkable that anyone would be particularly interested in what...
The Enron Task Force's extraordinary admission
Flying somewhat beneath the radar screen of the lynch mob that is fascinated with watching former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling imprisoned for the rest of his life is the case of former Enron Broadband executive, Kevin Howard. As you may...
Professor Podgor on the trial penalty
As noted in this prior post, one of the most perverse elements of the government's criminalization of business in the post-Enron era has been the trial penalty -- that is, the substantially longer prison sentences that executives face if they...
What Skilling was really sentenced for
Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling was sentenced on Monday to spend most of the rest of his life in prison for causing Enron's bankruptcy and resulting loss to investors. However, Skilling was neither prosecuted nor convicted for that crime. Skilling...
The Skilling sentencing hearing
Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's sentencing hearing is Monday afternoon, so it's a good time to provide some links that will provide a basis for an objective evaluation of Skilling's case as a counterbalance to what the mainstream media typically...
The trial penalty issue in the Skilling case
One of the many troubling aspects of the Enron Task Force's prosecution of former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling is the "trial penalty" that Skilling faces in connection with his sentencing (which is next Monday, October 23rd) -- that is, the...
What happened behind closed doors in regard to the Fastow sentence?
As noted earlier here, the six-year prison sentence handed down earlier last month to former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow was surprising on several levels, not the least of which was that the Enron Task Force elicited extensive testimony from Fastow...
So, what's the big deal about paying key witnesses?
If you're in Baltimore on Friday, you should make a point to drop in on Larry Ribstein and Bruce Kobayashi's presentation at the University of Maryland's 2006 Business Law Conference of their paper entitled What's So Bad About Paying Plaintiffs?...
More ripples from the Fifth Circuit's Nigerian Barge decision
Amidst the publicity on the Andy Fastow sentence and the upcoming sentencing hearing of Jeff Skilling, the legal wrangling related to the conviction of former Enron Broadband executive Kevin Howard (previous posts here) has been flying somewhat under the radar...
The surprising Fastow sentence
This Kristin Hays-Tom Fowler/Chronicle article picks up on an aspect of the six-year sentence assessed to former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow earlier this week that has largely been ignored in the media but noted earlier here -- the Enron Task...
More on the Fastow sentence
It's a good thing that Andy Fastow's counsel did not mention Fastow's following testimony on March 8 in the Lay-Skilling trial during Fastow's sentencing hearing today in front of U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt: Q. Does the government decide your...
Try to make sense of this
Let's see if I get this straight. On one hand, Andrew Fastow -- who served up his wife as a sacrifical lamb for his embezzlement of millions from Enron that triggered one of the largest bankruptcy cases in U.S. history,...
The Fastow sentencing memorandum
As Jamie Olis awaits his resentencing for working on a transaction for which he did not profit, Andrew Fastow's lawyers (one of whom is Olis' attorney -- small world, isn't it?) filed a sentencing memorandum earlier this week that claims...
The political implications of the NatWest Three case
This earlier post focused on the political controversy that arose in the UK over the case of the NatWest Three, the three former London-based National Westminster Bank PLC bankers who are charged in Houston with bilking their former employer of...
Finally, some justice in the Nigerian Barge case
As foreshadowed by this post from last month on the Fifth Circuit's decision to release from prison three of the four former Merrill Lynch executives pending disposition of their appeal in the Enron-related Nigerian Barge case (extensive discussion here), the...
The spokesman for the NatWest Three
What do you do when you can't hang out and chat with your blokes? Well, in the case of David Bermingham -- one of the three former London-based National Westminster Bank PLC bankers dubbed the "NatWest Three" in the lexicon...
Sending bad messages
It's hard to imagine that the federal government could have sent worse signals to foreign investors in US markets and businesses than the ones that it sent over the past week. First, there was the latest news about the NatWest...
Another strange turn in the NatWest Three case
Neil Coulbeck, former chief of North American financial markets for NatWest’s corporate bank who provided evidence to the F.B.I. and the Justice Department about Enron-related transactions involving three former NatWest Bank colleagues, was found dead in an East London park...
Foreshadowing a key issue in the Lay-Skilling appeal
In a strong indication that he believes that the matter raises important appellate issues, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake issued this this 22-page opinion late last week in the criminal case of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff...
The clock is ticking on the NatWest Three
As noted in these earlier posts, the Enron Task Force's prosecution of three former National Westminster Bank PLC bankers has raised a political firestorm in the United Kingdom, where the Task Force is attempting to use the 2003 Extradition Treaty...
The Ken Lay narratives
On several occasions while covering the Lay-Skilling trial, I noted that the Enron Task Force prosecutors were presenting a fundamentally weak case in an effective manner. Quite a few commenters both here and on other blogs took me to task...
VE under the Enron microscope
With the announcement yesterday of Houston-based Vinson & Elkins' $30 million settlement of one of the myriad of lawsuits pending against the firm as a result of its representation of Enron, the WSJ's Peter Lattman notes this BusinessWeek Online article...
Lay-Skilling, Week Sixteen
Week Sixteen (prior week summaries here) of the corporate criminal case of the decade was closing argument week, and the lawyers used the full 12 hours over two and a half days that U.S. District Judge Sim Lake allocated for...
Lay-Skilling, Week Fifteen
Week 15 of the corporate criminal case of the decade (previous weeks summary posts here) was the relative calm before the final battle of closing arguments next week. Although there was a skirmish over the Ostrich jury instruction, the lull...
Lay-Skilling, Week Fourteen
Week 14 (previous week summaries here) of the corporate criminal case of the decade is in the books and the biggest news is that U.S. District Judge Sim Lake has issued an edict that he does not want the case...
Lay-Skilling, Week Thirteen
Week Thirteen of the corporate criminal case of the decade (prior weeks posts here) was the Ken Lay week and, based on the media reports, it was alternately either the most boring or the most entertaining week of testimony in...
Lay-Skilling, Week Twelve
The Jeff Skilling segment of the corporate criminal trial of the decade concluded during Week Twelve (prior week summaries are here) as the former Enron CEO testified for a bit over three days on cross-examination from Enron Task Force director...
The brewing political storm involving the NatWest Three
As the testimony of former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling concludes today in a Houston courtroom, a political firestorm is brewing in the United Kingdom over the Enron-related case of the NatWest Three (previous posts here) -- the three former London-based...
The Great Waste
As noted earlier here, I was able to attend the Lay-Skilling trial for several hours on a couple of afternoons this past week. As I watched Jeff Skilling defend himself against criminal charges amidst the overwhelming societal bias that exists...
Lay-Skilling, Week Eleven
Week Eleven of the corporate criminal case of the decade (previous week summaries here) was the Jeff Skilling Week, and the former Enron CEO did not disappoint. In over three and a half days of direct examination (of which I...
Is the worm turning in favor of the NatWest Three?
This London Daily Telegraph article reports that the Enron-related case of the NatWest Three (previous posts here) -- the three former London-based National Westminster Bank PLC bankers who are charged in Houston with bilking their former employer of $7.3 million...
Lay-Skilling, Week Ten
After only one week of the defense's case and the tenth week of trial (prior week summaries here), it has become clearer than ever that the Enron Task Force's prosecution of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling...
Lay-Skilling, Week Nine
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake declared "Spring Break" at the conclusion of a short Week Nine of the criminal trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling as the prosecution concluded its case-in-chief and the Lay-Skilling team...
Lay-Skilling, Week Eight
Week Eight (previous week summaries here) of the corporate criminal case of the decade drew to a close on Thursday with former Enron treasurer and Andy Fastow protégé Ben Glisan on the stand and with the Enron Task Force announcing...
The Glisan Deal
When former Enron treasurer and Andy Fastow henchman Ben Glisan cut his plea deal with the Enron Task Force in September, 2003, he did not -- unlike most other Enron plea bargainers -- enter into a cooperation agreement that required...
Did Fastow forge Causey's initials on Global Galactic?
As noted on several occasions previously, the Lay-Skilling trial has settled into a rhythm during the Enron Task Force's case-in-chief in which long stretches of boring testimony regarding rather dry topics is interrupted intermittently with a tidbit that really appears...
More on the risk of going for the cheap score
Remember Kevin Hannon? He is the former Enron Broadband executive whose testimony was the subject of this earlier post on the risk for the Enron Task Force of attempting to score points with the jury by eliciting seemingly helpful testimony...
Lay-Skilling, Week Seven
As the seventh week (earlier week summaries here) of the epic corporate criminal trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling drew to a close, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake gave the lawyers and the jurors an...
The insufferable Sherron Watkins
Yesterday was Sherron Watkins day at the criminal trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, and despite her self-portrayal as a paragon of virtue amidst a cauldron of corruption at Enron, Watkins came off in person...
Where is Waldo?, er, I mean Causey?
The mainstream media covering the criminal trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling continues mostly to miss the point that the prosecution's case over almost seven weeks now has been extraordinarily weak for a case of...
The Enron Task Force's unraveling Nigerian Barge case
Early last week, oral arguments were heard in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on the appeal of the four Merrill Lynch executives who were convicted of wire fraud and conspiracy charges in November 2004 in the trial of the...
A real hero
While enduring Andy Fastow's explanations this past week on how he was a hero at times while working at Enron, I've been meaning to note the story of a real hero, Dallas-based blogger and writer, Virginia Postrel. Check out Virginia's...
Lay-Skilling, Week Six
The Andy Fastow Week of the criminal trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling drew to a quiet close on Thursday afternoon, which contrasted sharply with the crispness of his heavily-scripted direct examination and the combative...
The increasingly bizarre case of Lea Fastow
As expected, the media is all over the well-scripted direct examination of former Enron CFO Andy Fastow, although some media sources are already questioning the credibility of some of Fastow's direct testimony. However, given the breadth of Fastow's direct examination,...
Be careful what you ask on re-direct
As predicted yesterday, the media frenzy over former Enron CFO Andy Fastow's testimony relegated the previous Enron Task Force witness -- former Enron Broadband chief operating officer Kevin Hannon -- to obscurity rather quickly. However, before leaving the stand, the...
The risk of going for the cheap score
Former Enron Broadband chief operating officer Kevin Hannon will finish his testimony today in the trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling. Most likely, with the testimony of former Enron CFO Andy Fastow to follow, Hannon's...
Oral argument today in the Nigerian Barge appeal
Oral argument takes place today at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans in the appeals of Dan Bayly, Robert Furst, James Brown and William Fuhs, the former Merrill Lynch executives who were convicted of wire fraud and...
Lay-Skilling, Week Five
The pace of the Enron Task Force's legacy case against former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling continued to pick up pace during its fifth week (earlier weekly summary posts here), but that quicker pace is highlighting an...
While the price of asserting innocence is high, pleading guilty is lucrative
Alexei Barrionuevo, who has been doing a fine job covering the day-to-day developments in the Lay-Skilling trial for the New York Times, and his Times colleague Kurt Eichenwald -- who has written the best overall book on the Enron scandal,...
NatWest Three prepare for a long trip to Houston
The downtown Federal Detention Facility is not normally the destination of choice for U.K. bankers traveling to Houston, but it is looking increasingly as if that's where three former U.K. bankers embroiled in a transaction devised by former Enron CFO...
Omnicon's nuclear waste dump
In addition to maintaining the Wall Street Journal's essential Law Blog, Peter Lattman continues to contribute interesting news articles for the WSJ, including this one from yesterday that he co-authored with Jesse Eisinger about something that is close to the...
Lay-Skilling, Round One
Well, I wasn't able to put other pressing matters aside to attend opening arguments yesterday in the criminal trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, but I did score a transcript yesterday evening and was able...
The key evidentiary issue in the Lay-Skilling case
The Chronicle's Mary Flood leads today with this timely article on the key evidentiary issue in the upcoming criminal trial of top Enron executives, Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling -- to what extent the prosecution will be able to get...
Successful Enron veterans expose myths
A couple of NY Sunday Times articles reports on the success of a number of former Enron executives. However, in doing so, the Times misses a major point that is sadly lacking in most mainstream media accounts of Enron's demise....
Getting ready to rumble
The Chronicle's Mary Flood reports on one of the final pre-trial hearings before the commencement of the January 30 criminal trial against former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, and while it looks as if U.S. District Judge...
The drift of the Lay-Skilling case
As noted earlier here, the clear drift over the past several weeks of the Enron Task Force's case against former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling has been toward the charges relating to alleged misleading disclosure of material...
The Talented Mr. Kopper
The NY Times' Landon Thomas, Jr. -- whose interesting article on former Merrill Lynch executive Nigerian Barge defendant Daniel Bayly was highlighted in this previous post -- scores again today with this fascinating article on Michael J. Kopper, the former...
Causey pleads to seven years
As expected, former Enron chief accountant Richard Causey pled guilty Wednesday afternoon to a single count of securities fraud while agreeing to a prison sentence of seven years and a fine of $1.250 million. A bookmarked copy of the plea...
Causey plea deal expected today
The Chronicle, the Wall Street Journal ($), the NY Times and the Washington Post began reporting last night that former Enron chief accountant Richard Causey will enter into a plea bargain with the Enron Task Force this afternoon in Houston...
Thinking about the WSJ's Enron conflict of interest
The Chronicle's Loren Steffy thinks I'm stretching a bit in noting the conflict of interest that the Wall Street Journal has apparently decided to overlook in allowing John Emshwiller to report on the upcoming trial of the Enron Task Force's...
The Wall Street Journal's Enron conflict of interest
The Wall Street Journal's ($) John Emshwiller reports that former Enron chief accountant Richard Causey is currently negotiating with Task Force prosecutors regarding a possible plea bargain under which he would testify against his former bosses, Ken Lay and Jeff...
Ruling against the Enron retention bonuses
Among the more interesting civil cases that arose out of the Enron Corp. bankruptcy case are the various lawsuits that were filed to recover retention bonuses paid to former key Enron executives. Retention bonuses are payments made to a company's...
Fastow: "What do you mean 'tax fraud?'"
This earlier post noted that Lea Fastow -- a former mid-level Enron executive and wife of demonized former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow -- was prosecuted more harshly than normal for tax fraud because of her relationship to Fastow and endured...
Lay-Skilling-Causey witness intimidation allegations scheduled for hearing
This Mary Flood/Chronicle article reports that U.S. District Judge Sim Lake has scheduled a hearing in the Enron Task Force's legacy case against former key Enron executives Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling and Richard Causey over the defendants' allegations that the...
The troubling case of the NatWest Three
The NatWest Three are the three former National Westminster Bank PLC bankers based in London -- David Bermingham, Giles Darby and Gary Mulgrew -- who are charged in Houston with bilking their former employer of $7.3 million in one of...
Thinking about the Enron legacy case
It is currently the calm before the storm that will be the trial of the legacy case of the Enron Task Force -- that is, the criminal trial of former Enron executives Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and Richard Causey that...
More thoughts on the Merrill Lynch defendants' Nigerian Barge appeal
Having tended to my "day" job at the end of last week, I wanted to pass along some further thoughts on the lively discussion that erupted between Vic Fleischer, Larry Ribstein, other commentators, and me last week in regard to...
Discussing the Merrill Lynch defendants' Nigerian Barge appeal
This post earlier in the week on the appeal of the Merrill Lynch defendants in the Enron-related Nigerian Barge case generated quite a bit of traffic and some interesting responses from around the blogosphere. First, Larry Ribstein complimented the post...
The Merrill Lynch defendants appeal in the Nigerian Barge case - criminalization of business run amok
The Enron-related Nigerian Barge case has been a frequent topic on this blog as a prime example of the Justice Department's dubious criminalization of common business practices in the post-Enron era. As a result of that questionable policy, four former...
The sad case of Daniel Bayly
Daniel Bayly has had an impeccable professional career. A 30 year veteran of the executive ranks of Merrill Lynch, Mr. Bayly joined Merrill in 1972 as an associate in New York and rose through the ranks to become a managing...
How to avoid an Enronesque experience
This earlier post that compares American International Group, Inc.'s business model to that of Enron Corp. makes an important point about the true reason that Enron collapsed. The general public's perception -- fueled by the Enron Task Force and most...
A crushing defeat for the Enron Task Force
In yet another stunning blow in a series of setbacks to the Enron Task Force, the jury in the Enron Broadband trial returned late this afternoon and advised U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore that they had acquitted three of the...
Another Enron plea bargain
On the day that the jury in the Enron Broadband trial began deliberations, the Enron Task Force announced that Christopher Calger, a former executive with Enron North America, had pleaded guilty to a criminal conspiracy count and agreed to cooperate...
Lea Fastow goes home
The Chronicle's Mary Flood reports that Lea Fastow -- who served a longer sentence under harsher conditions because of her marriage to former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow -- was released early this morning to go home from a halfway house...
While Theodore Sihpol goes home, William Fuhs goes to jail
Continuing relentlessly to avoid addressing the real issue, this NY Times article speculates that the problem with Eliot Spitzer's recent unsuccessful prosecution of Theodore C. Sihpol, III was not that he charged Mr. Sihpol in the first place, but that...
Checking in on the NatWest Three
This Telegraph.com article updates the Enron-related case of the "NatWest Three," the three former National Westminster Bank PLC bankers based in London who are charged in Houston with bilking their former employer of $7.3 million in a scheme allegedly engineered...
Lea Fastow released from prison
The Chronicle's Mary Flood reports that Lea Fastow -- who served a longer sentence under harsher conditions because of her marriage to former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow -- was released to a halfway house from the Federal Detention Center in...
More ripples from the Anderson decision
Ellen Podgor over at the White Collar Crime Prof Blog points us to two documents that raise important issues relating to the federal government's questionable policy of attempting to regulate business through criminalization of what it deems to be questionable...
Update on Enron's "NatWest Three"
One of the more interesting sidelights to the criminal investigations into Enron Corp. has been the saga of the "NatWest Three" -- David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew and Giles Darby, the three former National Westminster Bank PLC bankers based in London...
The Chronicle makes a point about DeLay that it failed to make about Enron
A good, old-fashioned snit between Texas political opponents gave the Houston Chronicle an opportunity this week to make a good point about the rule of law and the integrity of governmental investigations. But in so doing, the Chronicle highlighted its...
AIG is sounding more like Enron all the time
As noted earlier here and here, there are several characteristics of the structure of American International Group Inc. that are similar to the structure of Enron Corp. In particular, both companies' business is largely dependent on its customers' trust and,...
AIG's Enronesque experience continues
As noted in this previous post, the reason that Enron crashed was that its business model required that its customers rely on the company's financial integrity and not necessarily on the company's net worth. Accordingly, when Enron's financial integrity came...
A masterful performance
Inasmuch as I had to appear at an hearing in federal court early this morning, I stuck around after my hearing to attend the sentencing hearing of former Merrill Lynch executive Daniel Bayly in connection with the Enron Nigerian Barge...
Well, at least it's playing close by
The Chron's Mary Flood reports today that the documentary Enron, The Smartests Guys in the Room (earlier post here) will open in Houston on April 20 at the River Oaks Theatre, just down the street from where Ken Lay, Jeff...
The "honest idiot" defense fails
Bernie Ebbers' honest idiot defense fails as he is convicted on all counts. The conviction is further bad news for former Enron chairman Ken Lay and former CEO Jeff Skilling who are claiming -- as did Mr. Ebbers -- that...
First excerpt from "Conspiracy of Fools"
This NY Sunday Times article provides the first excerpt from Kurt Eichenwald's new book about the collapse of Enron Corp. -- Conspiracy of Fools -- that was the subject of this earlier post. The entire excerpt is well worth reading,...
Enron saga turns Grisham
This Weekend Advisor column in the Wall Street Journal ($) advises us that the market for books on the Enron scandal has not been all that great. The best book on the subject to date -- Bethany McLean and Peter...
Lea Fastow's motion to reduce sentence is denied
The Chronicle's Mary Flood, who continues to do a fine job of covering the Enron scandal, posted this article today regarding U.S. District Judge David Hittner's denial of Lea Fastow's motion to reduce her one year sentence for misdemeanor tax...
NatWest bankers caught in Enron web try to stay in England
David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew and Giles Darby -- the three former NatWest investment bankers facing possible extradition to the United States in connection with Enron-related fraud charges -- are floating an unusual and creative legal strategy in England that amounts...
The same old Enron story
Following on this earlier post regarding the new Enron documentary Smartest Guys in the Room, the Houston Press' Joe Leydon is breathless in praising the documentary: Please don't misunderstand: Alex Gibney has no great beef with capitalism. Indeed, many of...
Criminalizing greed, dishonesty, and mendacity
Last week, I received the following email from a reader who was responding to this earlier post: You had this comment on your website, today. "In what alternative reality is it that a busy law dean and expert on ethics...
Looking upstream and downstream in prosecuting accounting fraud
This this NY Times article reported last week that nine executives from a several food supply companies have been charged with crimes for their part in a revenue pumping scheme at U.S. Foodservice, a subsidiary of the Dutch company Royal...
Enron-related extradition of British bankers approved
A British judge ruled Friday that three British bankers indicted in the U.S. on Enron-related fraud charges could be extradited to stand trial in Texas. Here is a prior post that reports on the background of this case leading up...
Checking in again on the Nigerian Barge trial
The defendants began putting on their cases this week in the Enron-related Nigerian Barge trial in Houston federal court, and already there have been some significant developments. Attorneys for defendants and former Merrill Lynch executives James Brown and Daniel Bayly...
Checking in again on the Nigerian Barge trial
I was in federal court yesterday, so I had occasion to drop in again (here is my earlier report on the trial) on the ongoing Enron-related Nigerian Barge trial, which was concluding its third week. The prosecution's second star witness...
Another Enron-related plea deal
Timothy DeSpain, Enron's assistant treasurer from 1999 to 2002, was arraigned before a federal magistrate Tuesday and released on a $100,000 bond in connection with securities fraud criminal charges that he conspired with other Enron executives to present Enron's financial...
Enron prosecutors pursue extradition of English bankers under U.K. terrorism law
Three former Natwest Bank bankers appeared in a London court yesterday to fight extradition to the United States, where they are facing fraud charges in connection with a deal with Enron Corp. Natwest bankers David Bermingham, Giles Darby and Gary...
Checking in on the Nigerian Barge trial
I had a hearing on Monday afternoon in federal court, so I went a bit early and sat in on the ongoing trial of the first Enron-related criminal case to go to trial -- the Nigerian Barge case. Today was...
Are you ready to rumble? -- First Enron criminal trial begins Monday
After three years from Enron Corp.'s demise into bankruptcy, dozens of indictments and plea bargains, and an unprecendented government and media campaign to demonize former Enron executives, the first criminal trial against former Enron executives will begin Monday in Houston...
Update on the sad case of Jamie Olis
David Gerger, appellate counsel for former Dynegy finance employee Jamie Olis filed Mr. Olis' appellant's brief with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals this week in which Mr. Gerger contends that Mr. Olis' conviction and 24-year prison sentence should be...
Criminalizing business
Gil Weinrich has a piece at TCS Central that proposes a different approach to punishment of corporate wrongdoers: Our society does a poor job of penalizing [corporate] crime. . . In the white-collar arena, the unrequited losses endured by victims...
Enron Task Force PR staff fights back
The unusual nature of Ken Lay's somewhat desperate public relations campaign in connection with the criminal charges that are pending against him has been noted earlier here, here, and here. Not to be outdone, the Enron Task Force pumped its...
Let's make CEO negligence criminal
Enron's excesses and the unprecedented media firestorm over the company's collapse have muddled the reasoning of even normally clear thinking business columnists. The latest to be afflicted is the Wall Street Journal's ($) Alan Murray, who comes up with this...
Update on Lay indictment
It looked like a video campsite outside the Federal Courthouse in Houston on Thursday as the media gathered to observe the spectacle of former Enron Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay being led into the courthouse in handcuffs. Mr. Lay pled...
Ken Lay gives an incredible interview on Enron
In an unusually bold move in connection with an incredibly difficult case to defend, former Enron chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay is the subject of a wide-ranging interview on the Enron criminal investigation that appears in this NY Times Sunday...
It's definitely no resort
This NY Times article does a good job of describing what Lea Fastow, the wife of former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow, will face while serving her one year prison sentence at the Houston Federal Detention Center in downtown Houston....
Judge Hittner goes nuclear on Mike DeGeurin
U.S. District Judge David Hittner today took the unusual step of issuing a ten page order admonishing prominent Houston criminal defense attorney, Dick Degeurin, for sending a background report about DeGeurin's client, Lea Fastow, to the Bureau of Prisons. Mrs....
Enron Nigerian Barge case cranks up
The first Enron-related criminal prosecution to go to trial since the 2002 case against Arthur Andersen begins today in U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein's court in Houston. This Houston Chronicle story reports on the difficulty of finding unbiased jurors in...
Nigerian Barge defendants go on the offensive
This NY Times article reports on a potentially important development in the Enron-related criminal case against two former Enron executives and four Merrill Lynch executives dubbed the "Nigerian Barge case." The Houston Chronicle story on these latest developments is here....
Nigerian Barge case update: Justice won't call Fastow
As noted in this earlier post, the Enron Task Force's first trial in a case stemming from its over two year investigation into the collapse of Enron Corp. will begin next Monday in U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein's court in...
Enron Nigerian Barge case gets teed up
This Chronicle article reports on the pre-trial conference yeseterday in the Enron-related criminal case commonly known as the "Nigerian Barge case," which appears to be the first Enron-related criminal case that will actually go to trial. As noted in previous...
Another former Enron exec cops a plea
This Chronicle story reports on today's plea bargain and settlement involving Paula Rieker, the former Enron managing director of investor relations. Under the deal, Ms. Rieker will turn over to the SEC nearly half a million dollars she made off...
Say what, Wendy Gramm?
Floyd Norris notes in this NY Times article that Securities and Exchange Commission chairman William Donaldson is not sounding or acting like the go-slow regulator that many expected when he was named to the post. As Mr. Norris notes: [Mr....
Lea Fastow gets a year
Lea Fastow's plea bargain with the Enron Task Force was approved today, and U.S. District Judge David Hittner sentenced her to a year in the slammer. Mrs. Fastow plea guilty to a misdemeanor charge of income tax evasion. The Task...
Another Enron-related plea bargain
The SEC and the Enron Criminal Task Force are preparing to bring civil and criminal charges -- along with a plea bargain and a settlement -- against Paula Rieker, the former corporate secretary and investor-relations executive of Enron Corp. Government...
Enron Task Force blinks, enters into new plea deal with Lea Fastow
This Chronicle article reports that Lea Fastow, wife of ex-Enron CFO Andrew Fastow, was charged with a misdemeanor tax count today and is scheduled to plead guilty at a new arraignment next Thursday. Previouwly subject to a six counts of...
Judge sets Lea Fastow trial to begin June 2
U.S. District Judge David Hittner kept the pedal to the metal in the Lea Fastow trial today by scheduling the case to begin on June 2. Everyone still expects that the government and counsel for Ms. Fastow will cut a...
Enron criminal trial postponement rejected
This Chronicle story reports on an interesting development in the Enron-related criminal case commonly referred to as the "Nigerian Barge case." U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein rejected one of the defendants' request for a postponement of a July trial setting...
Lea Fastow withdraws guilty plea
U.S. District Judge David Hittner announced to a crowded federal courtroom this morning that he would not accept the plea arrangement between the Enron Task Force and Lea Fastow. The judge declined to tell Lea Fastow what his sentence would...
Lea Fastow plea bargain
This morning, Lea Fastow -- wife of former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow -- will learn whether federal District Judge David Hittner will accept her plea bargain with the Enron Task Force....
Prosecutors get chummy with the Fastows
This Chronicle report indicates that the Enron Task Force and the Fastows are having some very interesting conversations of late, and the Task Force would like to continue the discourse....
Skilling scheduling conference and other Enron-related news
The scheduling conference was held today in former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's criminal case, and it doesn't sound as if it went all that well for the Enron Task Force. Federal District Judge Sim Lake agreed with the Skilling defense...
More Enron Grand Jury news
This Chronicle article reports that former Enron treasurer Ben Glisan, the right hand man of former CFO Andrew Fastow and the only former Enron executive who is presently serving prison time, has been testifying before the Enron grand jury in...
Skilling's friends and family
This Houston Chronicle article relates ex-Enron CEO and COO Jeff Skilling's inadvertent meeting at the Houston Federal Courthouse this past Thursday with ex-Enron treasurer Ben Glisan, who was ex-Enron CFO Andrew Fastow's right hand man during the final year and...
Skilling Indicted
The Chronicle is reporting that the Houston federal grand jury investigating the demise of Enron Corp. indicted Jeff Skilling, Enron's former CEO, this afternoon. Mr. Skilling surrendered to the FBI to the FBI in Houston early Thursday. Earlier posts regarding...
Skilling Conviction no tap in
The Houston Chronicle leads with a story today that the long expected indictment of former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling this week does not mean that the government will have an easy time convicting Mr. Skilling of a crime. The same...
More on Impending Skilling Indictment
The NY Times follows yesterday's Houston Chronicle report with this article on the impending indictment of former Enron CEO, Jeff Skilling. Mr. Skilling and former Enron Chairman Ken Lay are the two highest ranking former Enron officers who have not...
Enron Task Force Focusing on Skilling
The Houston Chronicle reports today that the Enron Task Force is close to indicting Jeff Skilling, the former CEO of Enron, possibly as early as next week. The recent plea bargain of former Enron CFO and Skilling protege Andrew Fastow,...
CFO's: Beware of this Award
Paul Krugman pens a review in this week's NY Times Review of Books in which he makes the following observation: In 1998, CFO Magazine gave an Excellence award to Scott Sullivan, the chief financial executive of WorldCom. In 1999 it...
Feds Allegedly Focusing on Lay
The Wall Street Journal's John Emshwiller reports (subscription required) today that federal investigators are hunkering down on their investigation of former Enron Chairman and CEO, Ken Lay. Mr. Emshwiller has been reporting on the Enron meltdown from the beginning back...
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