How did this weasel get off so lightly? You know this slithering littlecreep will only serve a fraction of his time. Prisons are loaded with people serving harsher sentences for committing crimes than are NOTHING in comparison tohis deeds. Happy High Holidays!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15011592/#storyContinued
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<DIV id=udtD>Updated: 3:49 p.m. CT Sept 26, 2006
HOUSTON - Andrew Fastow, the mastermind behind financial schemes that doomed Enron Corp., was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison for his role in the energy company's stunning collapse by a judge who felt he deserved leniency.
Fastow, the former chief financial officer who cooperated with prosecutors in other cases related to Enron's 2001 implosion, had agreed to serve a maximum 10-year term when he pleaded guilty in 2004.
But the judge said he deserved a lighter sentence because Fastow has been persecuted after Enron's failure and that his family has suffered enough.
"Prosecution is necessary, but persecution was not," said U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt. "These factors call for mercy."
Enron, once the nation's seventh-largest company, crumbled into bankruptcy proceedings in December 2001 after years of accounting tricks could no longer hide billions in debt or make failing ventures appear profitable. The collapse wiped out thousands of jobs, more than $60 billion in market value and more than $2 billion in pension plans.
Fastow was originally indicted on 98 counts, including fraud, insider trading and money laundering. He pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy, admitting to running various schemes to hide Enron debt and inflate profits while enriching himself. He surrendered nearly $30 million in cash and property.
Fastow's wife, Lea, pleaded guilty in 2004 to a misdemeanor tax crime and served a year in prison for helping him hide ill-gotten gains from his schemes. Her time behind bars was one of the reasons the judge was more lenient.
Edited by: Bart
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15011592/#storyContinued
<DIV ="textTimestamp">
<DIV id=udtD>Updated: 3:49 p.m. CT Sept 26, 2006
HOUSTON - Andrew Fastow, the mastermind behind financial schemes that doomed Enron Corp., was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison for his role in the energy company's stunning collapse by a judge who felt he deserved leniency.
Fastow, the former chief financial officer who cooperated with prosecutors in other cases related to Enron's 2001 implosion, had agreed to serve a maximum 10-year term when he pleaded guilty in 2004.
But the judge said he deserved a lighter sentence because Fastow has been persecuted after Enron's failure and that his family has suffered enough.
"Prosecution is necessary, but persecution was not," said U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt. "These factors call for mercy."
Enron, once the nation's seventh-largest company, crumbled into bankruptcy proceedings in December 2001 after years of accounting tricks could no longer hide billions in debt or make failing ventures appear profitable. The collapse wiped out thousands of jobs, more than $60 billion in market value and more than $2 billion in pension plans.
Fastow was originally indicted on 98 counts, including fraud, insider trading and money laundering. He pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy, admitting to running various schemes to hide Enron debt and inflate profits while enriching himself. He surrendered nearly $30 million in cash and property.
Fastow's wife, Lea, pleaded guilty in 2004 to a misdemeanor tax crime and served a year in prison for helping him hide ill-gotten gains from his schemes. Her time behind bars was one of the reasons the judge was more lenient.
Edited by: Bart