Letter of Apology » Enron

Three Former Enron Broadband Execs Ask For Dismissal Of Charges

Dave Westheimer — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:51:14 +0000

Attorneys for former Enron Broadband Services division CEO Joseph Hirko and former divison software executive Rex Shelby on Tuesday asked US District Judge Vanessa Gilmore to dismiss charges against them because a prosecutor allegedly ignored exculpatory evidence. Also on Tuesday, attorneys for former division strategic planning executive Scott Yeager filed a separate motion asking Gilmore to dismiss charges against him. The Houston Chronicle has Kristen Hays’ story here. Hirko and Shelby will be retried on November 3, 2008, while Yeager’s retrial is set for January 12, 2009. The retrials were scheduled after the Fifth Circuit in March upheld Gilmore’s refusal to dismiss the remaining charges (earlier).

Kevin Howard’s Third Trial Scheduled

Dave Westheimer — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 06:56:16 +0000

Former Enron Broadband CFO Kevin Howard will be tried for a third time; US District Judge Vanessa Gilmore on Monday scheduled his trial to begin March 24, 2009. Howard’s first trial in 2005 resulted in a hung jury. His second trial in 2006 resulted in his conviction on five counts including conspiracy, falsifying books and records and three counts of wire fraud. However, Judge Gilmore dismissed the conviction in January 2007 after the Fifth Circuit ruled in a separate Enron case that the government’s “honest services fraud” theory was improper. In February 2008, prosecutors lost their appeal of her dismissal of one of the counts (earlier). Now AUSA Jonathan Lopez says Howard will be retried on all five counts without seeking a new indictment; the government will instead edit the indictment used in his second trial to erase all references to honest services. The Houston Chronicle has Kristen Hays’ story here.

Enron Nigerian Barge Defendant Asks For Investigation Of Former Enron Prosecutor

Dave Westheimer — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:12:04 +0000

James A. Brown, one of three former Merrill Lynch executives still possibly facing retrial in the Enron Nigerian Barge case after their convictions were reversed on appeal (here and here ), is now asking that a former Enron Task Force prosecutor be investigated for misconduct on grounds that he wrongly withheld exculpatory evidence and knowingly misled the judge and jury in the November 2004 trial. And the former prosecutor? None other than Matthew Friedrich, Acting Assistant AG of the Criminal Division of the DOJ. Brown has asked Senate Judiciary Committee, the OPR and the Virginia Bar to investigate Friedrich’s conduct, and Brown’s attorney Sidney Powell said that similar complaints will be made against other prosecutors in the case (Bloomberg).

Will Fifth Circuit Decide Skilling Appeal This Week?

Dave Westheimer — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:38:18 +0000

Carleen Hawn thinks it could happen, and Prof. Malcolm Salter likes Jeff Skilling’s chances (Financial Week).

Retrials Scheduled For Three Former Enron Broadband Executives

Dave Westheimer — Wed, 14 May 2008 05:16:42 +0000

US District Judge Vanessa Gilmore on Monday scheduled retrials for former Enron Broadband Services executives Joseph Hirko, Rex Shelby and Scott Yeager. Hirko and Shelby will be retried on November 3, 2008, while Yeager’s retrial is set for January 12, 2009. In March, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit ruled that Gilmore was correct in refusing to dismiss most of the remaining charges against Hirko and Shelby and all the remaining charges against Yeager (earlier) after jurors were hung on many counts; the three were acquitted on some counts. Attorneys for all three defendants indicated on Monday that they will appeal the Fifth Circuit ruling to the US Supreme Court and will ask Gilmore to delay the retrials if a hearing is granted (Houston Chronicle).

NatWest Three Receive Prison Assignments And Orders To Surrender

Dave Westheimer — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:48:18 +0000

David Bermingham, Giles Darby and Gary Mulgrew, three British investment bankers known as the NatWest Three, were each ordered on Tuesday by US District Judge Ewing Werlein to report to prison within the next three weeks, each at a different prison. Mulgrew was ordered to surrender to the facility in Big Spring, Texas, on April 30; Darby to the Allenwood facility in White Deer, Pennsylvania, on May 7; and Bermingham to the prison in Lompoc, California on May 9. They all asked for Allenwood at their sentencing hearing and Judge Werlein recommend it, but the Bureau of Prisons has final authority(Bloomberg).

The former Greenwich NatWest bankers were indicted on seven counts of wire fraud in 2002 in connection with a scheme devised by former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow and his right-hand man Michael Kopper. They pleaded guilty in 2007 to one count of wire fraud and were sentenced to 37 months in prison plus restitution by Judge Werlein on February 22, 2008 (earlier). Their plea agreements call for them to be eligible for transfer to the UK after several months imprisonment in the US, and under the UK system they will be eligible for parole after serving half of their sentences.

Honest Services Issue Stressed In Skilling Appeal Argument

Dave Westheimer — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 05:50:36 +0000

Jeff Skilling’s lead attorney Daniel Petrocelli on Wednesday called former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling’s 2006 trial “fundamentally unfair and defective” in oral arguments before the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. In urging the three-judge panel to overturn the convictions, Petrocelli focused on the August 2006 US v. Brown (Enron Nigerian Barge) decision in which the Fifth Circuit held that “honest services fraud” does not apply when an employee’s actions were intended to benefit the company rather than for personal gain. Skilling was convicted in May 2006 on 19 of 28 counts including conspiracy, securities fraud and insider trading and is currently serving a 24 year prison sentence. Houston Chronicle (Kristen Hays), Texas Lawyer (Brenda Sapino Jeffreys), AP.

Oral Arguments Today In Skilling Appeal

Dave Westheimer — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 06:30:19 +0000

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit will hear arguments today in the appeal of former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling. Kristen Hays’ Houston Chronicle story here discusses the key issues, especially the “honest services fraud” theory used to convict him. The Fifth Circuit has already rejected this theory in vacating convictions in the Enron/Merrill Lynch Nigerian Barge case. Skilling was convicted in May 2006 on 19 of 28 counts including conspiracy, securities fraud and insider trading; he is currently serving a 24 year prison sentence.

Skilling Appeal: Government Denies Withholding Evidence

Dave Westheimer — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 06:17:54 +0000

Predictably, the government response to Jeff Skilling’s supplementary appellate brief denies that the Enron Task force withheld material exculpatory information from the former Enron CEO’s defense team. The government’s brief, filed on Tuesday, asserts, “Skilling’s claims rely on isolated snippets culled from 420 pages of handwritten notes and stripped of their context.” It accuses Skilling of using “hyperbolic rhetoric” and says that the Andrew Fastow interview notes that Skilling cites in his supplemental brief either contain information that Skilling had prior to the trial in the summaries of the notes “or would have had minimal value in impeaching Fastow.” Houston Chronicle here (with link to the brief), our earlier posts here, here and here. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has scheduled arguments in the appeal for April 2.

More Enron Task Force Prosecutorial Misconduct Allegations

Dave Westheimer — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:03:15 +0000

Following the news that the three former Merrill Lynch executives still possibly facing retrial in the Enron Nigerian Barge case have filed a motion asking US District Judge Ewing Werlein to order the government to give them the Andrew Fastow notes (earlier here; Chronicle here), Tom Kirkendall at Houston’s Clear Thinkers posts here on the motion filed by Sidney Powell, attorney for defendant James A. Brown, to dismiss the indictment on grounds of egregious prosecutorial misconduct, Brady violations and double jeopardy, and links here to the motion, which he has bookmarked. It’s a stunning motion which goes well beyond the Fastow notes in its allegations.