QandO

March 06, 2004

Enron execs are going to jail...
Posted by Jon Henke

While surfing for information on the Enron issue, I came across this San Francisco Chronicle article by Jon Carroll....

I am putting up $100 right here, payable to Doctors Without Borders; I am betting that not a single Enron executive will spend a day in jail. Not one, not ever.

Let us remember that Enron executives were part of Dick Cheney's super- secret cabal that formulated the administration's energy policy in the first days of the Bush administration.

Mr Carroll,

I recently came across your January 11, 2002 article entitled "The winter games at Enron". In that article, you wrote "I am putting up $100 right here, payable to Doctors Without Borders; I am betting that not a single Enron executive will spend a day in jail. Not one, not ever."

Since you wrote that column, I note the following news reports...

1: From USAToday:

Former Enron executives Andrew and Lea Fastow Wednesday agreed to go to jail, a development that turns a pivotal player in the energy firm's accounting scandal into a prosecution witness.

After a week of wavering over whether to accept a plea agreement from the Enron Task Force, the Fastows signed a deal that requires Andrew Fastow — the company's former chief financial officer — to help prosecutors as they try to build cases against former Enron chairman Ken Lay and former CEO Jeff Skilling.

In two years, the Enron Task Force has brought charges against 26 people, 19 of them former Enron executives. Counting the Fastows, it has won convictions against seven people and former Enron auditor Arthur Andersen.

Last month, Jeffrey Skilling, Enron's former chief executive, was indicted on 35 counts of fraud, insider trading and conspiracy. Kenneth Lay, its former chairman, is said to still be under investigation. Besides putting the Arthur Andersen firm out of business, the Justice Department has charged some 20 former Enron employees with crimes.

I am writing to inquire whether Doctors Without Borders has gotten their $100.

Regards,

Jon Henke
www.QandO.net/blog

Note: If he responds, I'll let you know.

UPDATE: Mr Carroll responds, noting that Andrew Fastow hasn't actually gone to jail, yet.

Well, that's a good point. Sentencing for Fastow is April 19th.....although he has already agreed to spend 10 years in jail. So his sentencing options are fairly limited. Of course, there's always the chance he may....well, die. That would certainly get him out of jail time.

But I suspect Doctors Without Borders will be getting their 100 dollars. In fact, based on the progress made in the case, it's probably best that he didn't make that offer for each Enron CEO.

Note: One doesn't change an entire political philosophy based on one mistaken premise....but it's the little mistaken premises like this that should cause us - each of us - to re-evaluate the motivations we assign to our opponents. Often, they're simply not the cartoons we'd like them to be.

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