Monday, June 18, 2007

Former Enron exec gets 27-month sentence

From Reuters:

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge on Monday sentenced the former CEO of Enron Corp.'s broadband division to 27 months for securities fraud in the company's 2001 collapse.
Ken Rice, 48, pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud in 2004 and assisted prosecutors in other Enron cases.

Enron, once a high-flying energy trader that tried to add broadband Internet access to its portfolio, inflated revenues and earnings and collapsed in a 2001 accounting scandal.
Rice, who was allowed to remain free on $3 million bond pending assignment to a prison, could have received a penalty ranging from probation to 10 years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore also ordered Rice to forfeit more than $379,000 in cash and assorted cars, jewelry and real estate found to have been ill-gotten gains.

Among forfeited items were a house in Telluride, Colorado; a platinum, sapphire and diamond necklace; a 1995 Ferrari; and investment accounts totaling more than $1 million.

Rice is the last to be sentenced of 15 former Enron executives who pleaded guilty. Sentences have ranged from one to six years.

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