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American Morning
'Minding Your Business'
Aired January 14, 2004 - 07:10 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: Also ahead this morning, we've got Andy Serwer talking about what's happening in Houston -- finally a big development in the Enron case. All of the dominoes are about to fall, I think it's fair to say.
We're going to talk a little bit about the Fastows and what happens there with their deals.
Andy, good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: There has been a deal struck, but a lot of the details are not quite known yet.
SERWER: That's correct. And, of course, we've been following this story for the past couple of days, anticipating a deal would be struck with Andy Fastow, the ex-CFO of this company, and his wife, Lea, who was also an official at the company.
Now, it appears today in Houston both of them will cop a plea. Andy Fastow was looking at decades in prison. In fact, if he was found guilty of all of the charges, possibly even life, if you can imagine that -- 98 charges. Now, it appears he will get 10 years in prison. "The Washington Post" and other reports are saying that he'll have to forfeit $20 million of his own personal wealth.
As far as Lea Fastow goes, well, she is also looking at jail time. She could have faced four years, possibly even longer than that. It appears that she will get probably around 10 to 16 months. You can see the six charges there.
And the big question, Soledad -- well, there are two of them. No. 1, they wanted to avoid jail time because they do have two boys, 4 and 8. They wanted to avoid being in jail at the same time. And as you suggested at the top: Will Andy Fastow be able to provide testimony that will allow prosecutors to go after ex-CEOs Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay?
O'BRIEN: Do you think that the fact that there was a deal sort of is an indication behind the scenes that they wouldn't have given him some kind of a deal if he wasn't going to turn some kind of evidence against his bosses?
SERWER: Absolutely. I think that was part and parcel of the whole thing, and I think Fastow really will set the government's case in motion there. O'BRIEN: So, we do not yet know exactly how much prison time that Lea Fastow is going to get.
SERWER: Well probably find out today.
O'BRIEN: All right, Andy Serwer, thank you very much.
SERWER: Well, thanks.
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 14, 2004 - 07:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Also ahead this morning, we've got Andy Serwer talking about what's happening in Houston -- finally a big development in the Enron case. All of the dominoes are about to fall, I think it's fair to say.
We're going to talk a little bit about the Fastows and what happens there with their deals.
Andy, good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: There has been a deal struck, but a lot of the details are not quite known yet.
SERWER: That's correct. And, of course, we've been following this story for the past couple of days, anticipating a deal would be struck with Andy Fastow, the ex-CFO of this company, and his wife, Lea, who was also an official at the company.
Now, it appears today in Houston both of them will cop a plea. Andy Fastow was looking at decades in prison. In fact, if he was found guilty of all of the charges, possibly even life, if you can imagine that -- 98 charges. Now, it appears he will get 10 years in prison. "The Washington Post" and other reports are saying that he'll have to forfeit $20 million of his own personal wealth.
As far as Lea Fastow goes, well, she is also looking at jail time. She could have faced four years, possibly even longer than that. It appears that she will get probably around 10 to 16 months. You can see the six charges there.
And the big question, Soledad -- well, there are two of them. No. 1, they wanted to avoid jail time because they do have two boys, 4 and 8. They wanted to avoid being in jail at the same time. And as you suggested at the top: Will Andy Fastow be able to provide testimony that will allow prosecutors to go after ex-CEOs Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay?
O'BRIEN: Do you think that the fact that there was a deal sort of is an indication behind the scenes that they wouldn't have given him some kind of a deal if he wasn't going to turn some kind of evidence against his bosses?
SERWER: Absolutely. I think that was part and parcel of the whole thing, and I think Fastow really will set the government's case in motion there. O'BRIEN: So, we do not yet know exactly how much prison time that Lea Fastow is going to get.
SERWER: Well probably find out today.
O'BRIEN: All right, Andy Serwer, thank you very much.
SERWER: Well, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
