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American Morning
Minding Your Business: Fastows on the Clock
Aired January 09, 2004 - 07:44 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: The clock is ticking for the wife of the alleged mastermind in the Enron scandal. Will she accept a plea bargain that could crack the case wide open?
Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
And it's really ticking, because I think she's just got a few more hours.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: That's right. Noon Central, apparently, according to published reports, and that's our understanding. Lee Fastow, the wife of Andy Fastow, the ex-CFO of Enron, she, of course, was also an official at the company.
The sentence is still to be determined, though, Soledad. Even if she does accepts the plea, anywhere from five months, which the judge said was sort of too lenient, up to about a year it looks like.
Her husband, meanwhile, Andy Fastow -- there he is -- is looking at possibly 10 years plus.
Now, what this complicated plea bargain is all about is avoiding serving jail sentences at the same time because of their two small children. And you've got to feel a little bit for them. On the other hand, there must be all sorts of people who have gone through the criminal justice system -- couples who haven't had the luxury of sort of appealing to a judge and saying, oh, please don't put us in jail at the same time. The judge in many cases, I'm sure, would say, well, look, you guys are bad people.
O'BRIEN: Don't do the crime and it won't be an issue.
SERWER: Don't do the crime. Your kids are going to go into foster care. And so, obviously these are very tough circumstances.
O'BRIEN: Or to a relative. I mean, they don't necessarily go into foster care.
SERWER: Right. That's true as well. And the other big point here, of course, is we're looking at Andy Fastow providing evidence against Jeff Skilling. He was considered the right-hand man to the ex-CEO of Enron, and Ken Lay, the big fish.
O'BRIEN: So, if he's talking and getting 10 years...
SERWER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: ... they must have a lot on him.
SERWER: Well, that's why those guys are very -- fighting these charges very rigorously, because it's a lot of jail time, absolutely.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the markets? What's ahead?
SERWER: Yes, well, today it looks like the futures, right now at least, are a little bit lower. But all of the news is really going to happen at 8:30 when we get the key December jobs report, the employment rate for the month of December. We're looking at 5.9 percent. That's where things stand right now, and possibly adding jobs. That's what the analysts are looking for -- the rate to hold constant but to add some jobs.
Yesterday, a good day on Wall Street. The Nasdaq up already 4.8 percent this year. So, things are charging right ahead.
O'BRIEN: And it's not that far into the new year.
SERWER: No, not at all. So, a nice start.
O'BRIEN: All right, well, we will see how the market responds to that information. Andy, thanks.
SERWER: Right.
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 9, 2004 - 07:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The clock is ticking for the wife of the alleged mastermind in the Enron scandal. Will she accept a plea bargain that could crack the case wide open?
Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
And it's really ticking, because I think she's just got a few more hours.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: That's right. Noon Central, apparently, according to published reports, and that's our understanding. Lee Fastow, the wife of Andy Fastow, the ex-CFO of Enron, she, of course, was also an official at the company.
The sentence is still to be determined, though, Soledad. Even if she does accepts the plea, anywhere from five months, which the judge said was sort of too lenient, up to about a year it looks like.
Her husband, meanwhile, Andy Fastow -- there he is -- is looking at possibly 10 years plus.
Now, what this complicated plea bargain is all about is avoiding serving jail sentences at the same time because of their two small children. And you've got to feel a little bit for them. On the other hand, there must be all sorts of people who have gone through the criminal justice system -- couples who haven't had the luxury of sort of appealing to a judge and saying, oh, please don't put us in jail at the same time. The judge in many cases, I'm sure, would say, well, look, you guys are bad people.
O'BRIEN: Don't do the crime and it won't be an issue.
SERWER: Don't do the crime. Your kids are going to go into foster care. And so, obviously these are very tough circumstances.
O'BRIEN: Or to a relative. I mean, they don't necessarily go into foster care.
SERWER: Right. That's true as well. And the other big point here, of course, is we're looking at Andy Fastow providing evidence against Jeff Skilling. He was considered the right-hand man to the ex-CEO of Enron, and Ken Lay, the big fish.
O'BRIEN: So, if he's talking and getting 10 years...
SERWER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: ... they must have a lot on him.
SERWER: Well, that's why those guys are very -- fighting these charges very rigorously, because it's a lot of jail time, absolutely.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the markets? What's ahead?
SERWER: Yes, well, today it looks like the futures, right now at least, are a little bit lower. But all of the news is really going to happen at 8:30 when we get the key December jobs report, the employment rate for the month of December. We're looking at 5.9 percent. That's where things stand right now, and possibly adding jobs. That's what the analysts are looking for -- the rate to hold constant but to add some jobs.
Yesterday, a good day on Wall Street. The Nasdaq up already 4.8 percent this year. So, things are charging right ahead.
O'BRIEN: And it's not that far into the new year.
SERWER: No, not at all. So, a nice start.
O'BRIEN: All right, well, we will see how the market responds to that information. Andy, thanks.
SERWER: Right.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
