Daily Archives: May 6, 2004

Lea Fastow gets a year

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Lea Fastow’s plea bargain with the Enron Task Force was approved today, and U.S. District Judge David Hittner sentenced her to a year in the slammer. Mrs. Fastow plea guilty to a misdemeanor charge of income tax evasion.
The Task Force prosecutors, who have become quite chummy with the Fastows since former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow, cut a deal to testify against other former executives at Enron, recommended that Mrs. Fastow’s sentence be five months. Judge Hittner, who I believe has never been pleased that the Task Force brought a marginal criminal case against a wife to put pressure on her husband, overruled prosecutors’ recommendation
Judge Hittner criticized prosecutors for vascillating between an original indictment of six felonies and a final charge of just one misdemeanor, suggesting that justice may not have been served in either instance. “Such maneuvering as is present in this case might be seen as a blatant manipulation of the justice system,” Judge Hittner said on the record.
The first Enron-related criminal case actually to go to trial since the Arthur Andersen prosecution in early 2002 is coming up in early June. That is the case that is known as the Nigerian Barge case, which is discussed in more detail here.

Break’em up

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Please excuse the light blogging this week. I have been working on a big project, so not much time for the old blog.
But even light blogging cannot stop the Stros, who won their sixth of seven games on the just concluded homestand by beating the Pirates 5-2 on a getaway day afternoon game at the Juice Box. Wade Miller scattered 6 hits over 7 and a third innings and didn’t walk anyone, which is a key to for him to do well. Bags and Morgan Ensberg had the key hits for the Stros, who are now 18-10, in first place in the NL Central, and tied with Anaheim for the best record in MLB right now.
That may not last long, though. Tim Redding, who has wavered between mediocre and awful in four starts this season, gets the nod again tomorrow in the first game of a weekend series with the Braves in Atlanta. Roy O and Andy Pettitte are scheduled to pitch the weekend games for the Stros.

Stros win again

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The Rocket won his sixth straight game of the season as the Astros beat the Pirates 6-2 in the second game of their three game series. Jeff Kent was the hitting star with a dinger and a triple, while Morgan Ensberg climbed out of Jimy Williams’ doghouse long enough to pick up a couple of hits and RBI’s.
Clemens struggled a bit in this outing (, but he is so ornery that it doesn’t seem to matter much. Clemens moved into second place on the career strikeouts list behind fellow Houston area native Nolan Ryan when he struck out Raul Mondesi swinging in the fifth inning to pass Steve Carlton with No. 4,137 career K’s. Clemens finished the night with nine strikeouts to run his career total to 4,140.
The Stros go for the sweep on a Thursday afternoon businessman’s special before leaving town for a quick three game roadie in Atlanta over the weekend.
Wade Miller will start for the Astros.