Former Enron Corp. CFO Andrew Fastow was charged with fraud, money laundering and conspiracy Wednesday in Houston in connection with the company’s collapse last year, and the U.S. government plans to freeze and require the forfeiture of about $37 million of his assets, according to the Department of Justice’s Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson.

By midday, Fastow had been arraigned and bail had been set at $5 million, secured with real estate owned by him, his wife and his parents, as well as a $3 million Fidelity investment account.

Fastow also allowed prosecutors to freeze $11 million in other assets, which he allegedly obtained illegally. Also, he and his wife Lea had to surrender their passports. He will only be allowed to travel in Texas and California. The assets Fastow secured for his bond include his current home in the Southampton section of River Oaks (assessed at $700,000); a home now under construction in River Oaks (estimated at $4.3 million); a summer home in Galveston (assessed at $288,000); a Vermont cabin situated on 68 acres (worth about $300,000); and a home he obtained for his parents, which is also in Southampton (bought for $790,000). “Southampton” is also the name of one of the several special purpose entities that Fastow had set up and run for Enron now under investigation (see related story)..

Fastow had voluntarily turned himself in to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) offices in Houston early Wednesday morning, and was later led in handcuffs by FBI agents to the courthouse downtown. Fastow, 40, was brought to court by his attorney, John Keker, who has declined any comments concerning the case.

During Congressional hearings on the collapse of Enron, Fastow invoked the Fifth Amendment, and refused to testify. He is considered by many to be the one who devised Enron’s complex special purpose entities (SPEs) that were used to hide debt from shareholders and regulators. As manager of the SPEs, Fastow also was estimated to have received about $30 million in profits.

Fastow has maintained through spokespersons that he acted with the full knowledge of Enron’s Chairman Kenneth Lay and CEO Jeffrey Skilling. Lay has not spoken publicly in his defense; Skilling twice testified before Congress that he had no knowledge of any wrongdoing at Enron.

Michael Kopper, a former Enron finance official who worked for Fastow, pleaded guilty earlier this year to felony conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, and has been giving federal officials information concerning his role and that of his superiors (see Daily GPI, Aug. 22).

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also filed charges against Fastow, alleging violations of the securities laws concerning anti-fraud, periodic reporting, books and records and internal controls provisions. The SEC said in a statement that it would seek to permanently bar Fastow from acting as a director or officer of a publicly held company. it also is seeking an injunction from future violations of federal securities laws.

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