Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

'Minding Your Business'

Aired January 08, 2004 - 07:26   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: There is news this morning in the Enron case. Is a guilty plea at hand?
Andy Serwer is minding your business this morning.

We are, of course, talking about Andrew Fastow. He's kind of the leader of the rogue's gallery in the Enron debacle.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, absolutely, Soledad. And we're following this story closely out of Houston.

It does appear that a plea bargain could be at hand for former CFO Andy Fastow of Enron and his wife, Lea Fastow, as well. She is also a former Enron executive. The lawyers are busy right now trying to work things out.

Just recently the judge rejected a plea bargain for Lea Fastow that would have meant five months in jail. Andy Fastow probably looking at 10 years in jail, possibly a $20 million fine, according to published reports.

What's going on here and what's taking so long, obviously a very complicated jail, very sensitive issue. But, of course, these two were married and have two elementary school aged boys. They don't want to go to jail at the same time. Obviously, other felons don't have that luxury, necessarily. But they're trying to work that out.

Andy Fastow looking at dozens of counts; Lea Fastow looking at six counts, including tax evasion and conspiracy.

And I think we can look and see exactly where we stand. You talked about the rogue's gallery here in this case. Here's how we stand. Ten people have been indicted in Enron. Six have pleaded guilty. Two are negotiating. That's the Fastows.

Now, missing from this list, Soledad, of course...

O'BRIEN: Yes, add that up. That doesn't run.

SERWER: Right. Of course, are Jeff Skilling, the former CEO, and Ken Lay, the former Chairman. And the important point here, I think, this morning is that we could be getting closer to indictments of those two gentlemen, the two top dogs, with a plea bargain here with Andy Fastow.

O'BRIEN: All right, Andy Serwer, thank you very much.

SERWER: You're welcome.

O'BRIEN: We'll check in with you later on how the markets are looking for this morning.

SERWER: Great.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired January 8, 2004 - 07:26   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: There is news this morning in the Enron case. Is a guilty plea at hand?
Andy Serwer is minding your business this morning.

We are, of course, talking about Andrew Fastow. He's kind of the leader of the rogue's gallery in the Enron debacle.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, absolutely, Soledad. And we're following this story closely out of Houston.

It does appear that a plea bargain could be at hand for former CFO Andy Fastow of Enron and his wife, Lea Fastow, as well. She is also a former Enron executive. The lawyers are busy right now trying to work things out.

Just recently the judge rejected a plea bargain for Lea Fastow that would have meant five months in jail. Andy Fastow probably looking at 10 years in jail, possibly a $20 million fine, according to published reports.

What's going on here and what's taking so long, obviously a very complicated jail, very sensitive issue. But, of course, these two were married and have two elementary school aged boys. They don't want to go to jail at the same time. Obviously, other felons don't have that luxury, necessarily. But they're trying to work that out.

Andy Fastow looking at dozens of counts; Lea Fastow looking at six counts, including tax evasion and conspiracy.

And I think we can look and see exactly where we stand. You talked about the rogue's gallery here in this case. Here's how we stand. Ten people have been indicted in Enron. Six have pleaded guilty. Two are negotiating. That's the Fastows.

Now, missing from this list, Soledad, of course...

O'BRIEN: Yes, add that up. That doesn't run.

SERWER: Right. Of course, are Jeff Skilling, the former CEO, and Ken Lay, the former Chairman. And the important point here, I think, this morning is that we could be getting closer to indictments of those two gentlemen, the two top dogs, with a plea bargain here with Andy Fastow.

O'BRIEN: All right, Andy Serwer, thank you very much.

SERWER: You're welcome.

O'BRIEN: We'll check in with you later on how the markets are looking for this morning.

SERWER: Great.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com