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Enron's Fastow Indicted NewsMax.com WiresHOUSTON – Former Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew S. Fastow was indicted Thursday on 78 counts of wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy in the collapse of the Houston energy trading company. Fastow, 40, surrendered Oct. 2 to federal authorities in Houston after a criminal complaint was filed against him in the case, which alleges that he conspired with others at Enron to defraud the company, its shareholders and others. Fastow and others allegedly used off-balance-sheet partnerships to make Enron appear more attractive to Wall Street analysts, credit rating agencies and others. Prosecutors say they manipulated Enron's financial results to enrich themselves. "The investigation into Fastow's illegal activities continues," said Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson, the head of President Bush's Corporate Fraud Task Force, in a statement released in Washington. "We will use every appropriate measure to recover the ill-gotten gains of these corporate schemers. Justice demands it." After his voluntary court appearance Oct. 2 in Houston, Fastow was released on a $5 million secured bond. A date for his initial appearance on the indictment has not been scheduled. He was indicted for a Houston federal grand jury. The Enron Task Force prosecutors in Houston have brought several criminal charges. On June 15, a Houston federal jury convicted Arthur Andersen LLP of obstruction of justice for shredding Enron documents when it learned the Securities and Exchange Commission was about to begin an investigation of the Houston company. On Oct. 16, the Chicago accounting firm was fined $500,000 and sentenced to five years probation. David Duncan, a former Andersen executive who headed the Enron audit operation, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in connection with his role in the destruction of Enron documents. He has cooperated with prosecutors and has yet to be sentenced. In August, former Enron finance executive Michael J. Kopper, Fastow's right-hand man, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, and is cooperating with the government. Also cooperating with the government is former Enron energy trader Timothy N. Belden, who pleaded guilty in October 2002 to conspiracy to commit fraud by manipulating energy prices in the California market. In September 2002, a federal grand jury in Houston returned an indictment charging three former British bankers with wire fraud in the scheme involving one of the off-balance-sheet partnerships. Copyright 2002 by United Press International. All rights reserved.
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