Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Whom Do You Believe, Fastow or Lay?

It's like picking the biggest devil in the room, isn't it? Have a gander at this clip:
He matter-of-factly told the jury how, at the company's behest, he created off-the-books deals with names such as LJM, Raptor and Chewco to hide mounting losses and to fabricate profits in a company that was swimming in debt and plagued by a number of poorly performing business units.

"The whole point of the Raptor deals was to not disclose significant losses at the company," Fastow said in response to prosecutor John Hueston's questions. "LJM's role was to help Enron paint a rosy picture of its finances so it wouldn't have to report losses in quarterly financial reports."

"That was helping Enron's stock go up and we'd get our bonuses," he said.

Lay, 63, and Skilling, 52, have denied any wrongdoing and have blamed Fastow for the company's implosion. They took notes and occasionally conferred with lawyers during his testimony, but showed no emotion.

But Fastow said the pair approved the off-the-books partnerships he managed and were well aware they were used to cook the books. At one point, he said, Skilling "patted" him on the back for his work.
Not a scruple to share among them.

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