Wife of Ex-Enron CFO Gets 1-Year Prison Term

The wife of former Enron Corp. finance chief Andrew S. Fastow pleaded guilty Thursday to helping her husband hide some of his ill-gotten gains and was sentenced to the maximum of one year in prison.

The plea came after months of legal wrangling in which the Fastows’ lawyers sought to minimize Lea Fastow’s time away from their two young children.

U.S. District Judge David Hittner in Houston turned aside pleas to give Lea Fastow only a few months in prison on the misdemeanor charge of filing a false tax form.

Several of Lea Fastow’s supporters wept in the courtroom as she was sentenced. She began crying after the judge left the room.

“I’ve made errors in judgment I will always regret for the rest of my life,” she told the judge. “But I can’t undo the past. I am only able to do what is right now.”

Lea Fastow, 42, was an assistant treasurer at Enron, but the case solely involved her role in the Fastows’ tax filings. She has admitted hiding from the government her husband’s illicit income by disguising it as gifts.

Her case was part of a deal that included a plea agreement for her husband. He pleaded guilty in January to two counts of conspiracy, admitting to running a complex web of schemes and partnerships designed to make Enron appear financially healthy while enriching himself at the company’s expense.

He agreed to relinquish nearly $24 million in cash and property, serve the maximum 10-year prison sentence and help prosecutors pursue other cases. His help led to subsequent indictments of former Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey K. Skilling and the company’s former top accountant, Richard A. Causey.

Lea Fastow had originally pleaded guilty to a felony tax crime in January in exchange for a sentence of five months in prison and five months of home confinement. Hittner rejected that plea agreement, saying he wouldn’t be bound by the sentence her lawyers had worked out with prosecutors. Hittner said he wanted to consider the 10 to 16 months called for by federal sentencing guidelines.

Last week, prosecutors wiped out six felony charges and filed the single misdemeanor count in exchange for her guilty plea.

She remains free until a date is set for her to report to prison.