HOUSTON (AP) -- Former Enron Corp. chief financial officer Andrew Fastow and his wife reportedly are negotiating plea bargains that could send the high-powered couple to federal prison for their roles in the accounting scandal that brought down the energy company.
Fastow, among the top echelon of management at the fallen energy giant, would be the highest ranking executive to plead guilty in the criminal investigation of Enron's 2001 collapse.
The Houston Chronicle, citing sources close to the case, reported Wednesday that federal prosecutors are discussing a 10-year sentence for Andrew Fastow and that a plea bargain offered to his wife, Lea, in November for a five-month term is back on the table. Lea Fastow's proposed deal had earlier fallen through.
Andrew Fastow, 42, is charged with 98 counts of fraud, money laundering, insider trading and other charges for allegedly masterminding a web of schemes that hid Enron's debt, inflated profits and allowed him to skim millions of dollars for himself, his family and selected friends and colleagues. He has pleaded innocent and is free on $5 million bond. He has asked the court to move his trial, scheduled for April, out of Houston - preferably out of the state.
For plea arrangements to be finalized, two federal judges, prosecutors and the defendants all must agree on the details. Negotiations with the two judges who must approve the deals were expected to take place beginning Wednesday, the Chronicle reported.
Prospective jurors were still set to report to the courthouse Thursday morning to answer a questionnaire to see if they are fit to serve as jurors in Lea Fastow's Feb. 10 trial on six criminal charges.
Lea Fastow, 42, was formerly assistant treasurer at Enron. She is charged with six criminal counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and four counts of making false tax returns. She has previously pleaded innocent on all counts.
In September, former Enron treasurer Ben Glisan Jr. became the first Enron executive to go to prison for a five-year sentence, after pleading guilty to conspiracy.
Unlike Andrew Fastow's top lieutenant, Michael Kopper, who negotiated his own plea and promised to testify against his former boss and others as needed, Glisan had no such deal to cooperate, authorities said.
Houston-based Enron collapsed in bankruptcy two years ago as alleged financial schemes came to light. Thousands of workers lost their jobs and investors were left with worthless stock that once traded at $90.
