The jury in the first re-trial of the Enron Broadband case that ended in a mess of acquittals and a mistrial last year convicted former EBS CFO Kevin Howard (picture on the left) this afternoon on all five counts — three counts of wire fraud, two counts of falsification of books and records and conspiracy to falsify books and records. Howard’s co-defendant — former EBS accountant Michael Krautz — was acquitted on all counts. The previous posts on this case are here, including this recent one on the closing arguments of the trial.
U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore scheduled sentencing for the morning of September 11, 2006, the same day on which former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sim Lake on the same floor of the Federal Courthouse in downtown Houston. Howard faces possible penalties of five years in prison on the conspiracy charge and each of the three wire fraud counts, and 10 years on the falsification of books and records count.
Given the unavoidable torrent of adverse publicity regarding all things related to Enron that has occurred since the Lay-Skilling jury returned its verdict last Thursday, it’s highly unfortunate that the re-trial of Howard and Krautz was not postponed until a reasonable period of time had passed after the completion of the Lay-Skilling trial. The freedom of a 43 year-old family man and father of two young children now hangs in the balance of that dubious decision.