Connected to the issue of greed, of course,
is the challenge of the game itself. Clearly, a lot
of the players at Enron were willing to push
some of Michael Milken’s theories and practices
on &dquo;cowboy capitalism&dquo; to the furthest limits of
logic and accountability. The former CFO of
Enron, Andrew Fastow, allegedly combined
many of Milkin’s techniques along with deceit,
circumventing the rules, temporarily changing or
suspending the rules, and outright thievery to
achieve his objectives. Fastow has been accused
and indited for mismanaging, misappropriating,
and embezzling an estimated $390 million. On
January 14, 2004 Mr. Fastow pleaded guilty to
two wide-ranging conspiracy charges contained
in the 98-count criminal indictment that he
faced. He has been sentenced to ten years in
prison and the payment of a $29 million fine.
The other 96 charges will be dropped only after
Fastow’s continued cooperation with the
prosecution. On February 20, 2004 former CEO
Jeffery Skilling was charged with 20 counts of
securities fraud, four counts of wire fraud, ten
counts of insider trading, and one count of
conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud.
If convicted Skilling faces more than $66
million in forfeitures, up to 325 years in prison,
and hundreds of millions in fines. Finally, on
July 7, 2004 Ken Lay, founder and former CEO
of Enron was indicted on eleven counts,
including conspiracy to commit fraud. In a
sweeping 65-page indictment federal
prosecutors cast Lay as a key player in the
massive fraud that brought down Enron. The
government claims that although Skilling and
Fastow &dquo;spearheaded the scheme&dquo; to defraud the
company, Lay was not an innocent victim, and
out of the loop. In fact, the government charges
that at a certain point Lay &dquo;took over leadership
of the conspiracy.&dquo;