Ex-Enron executive gets probation

[Judi Lynn]

Ex-Enron executive gets probation

By Matt Daily
20 minutes ago

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A former Enron Corp. finance executive was sentenced on Monday to two years probation for filing false tax returns that hid cash payments he received while working under former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow.

Larry Lawyer, 38, was the third former Enron employees to strike a plea deal with prosecutors to avoid a trial. He agreed to cooperate with the government's investigation in November 2002, when he pleaded guilty to a single criminal count.

"I'm very sorry for the things that brought me here," Lawyer told U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Hoyt at the sentencing hearing as he wiped away tears.

Laywer was the first of more than a dozen former Enron employees set to be sentenced this year for crimes linked to the company that collapsed into bankruptcy in December 2001 under a wave of accounting scandals.
(snip/...)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060626/us_nm/enron_lawyer_sentencing_dc;_ylt=A0SOwlt7GaBEc3cAJxIWIr0F;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

[gratuitous]

1. I'm sure Mr. Lawyer is VERY sorry

Very sorry he got caught.

Does he have to give back any of the money he stole and hid from the government? Or is two years having to check in once a month punishment enough?

[Warpy]

4. The IRS is very unforgiving

and I'm sure the taxes, interest, and penalty will keep his lifestyle in the modest range for many years to come.

I'm glad the little fish plea bargained the big fish into prison.

The Imperial Regime will likely pardon them. It won't sit well with their constituents, though.

[cobalt1999]

12. That's true

While most here will call for his head, if the only thing they had on him was tax evasion, those rarely end in prison time. The IRS wants their money instead. He'll be paying for this for a very long time.

[bluestateguy]

2. All Enron executives should swing from a rope w/ their balls their mouths

Let no one call me soft on crime.

These people are the moral equivalent of Al Qaeda.

[shain from kane]

3. "Kill all the lawyers" Wm. Shakespeare n/t

[Bush_MUST_Go]

5. No accountability in America. Where are the Conservatives now??

Hoyt also ruled Lawyer would pay no financial penalty.

Laywer, who now works as a business consultant, did not comment to reporters after the sentence, but his lawyer, Robert Sussman, said the sentence would allow his client to get on with his life.

"I think it was the right sentence considering all that Larry's been through and all the thing's he's done," Sussman said.


.....


No penalty?

[joeunderdog]

6. When the defense attroney says it's "the right sentence"

what does that tell you?

You get 2 years in the can for stealing a tv in this country. These guys stole enough money to buy entire tv stations and they just skip on to the next business opportunity.

Did they send him to bed without dessert, too?

:mad:

[Rob H.]

7. "...the right sentence considering all that Larry's been through..."

What?! What about all the former employees who now have zero retirement thanks to the book-cooking shenanigans of the people who ran Enron into the ground? Sussman's a prick, imho, if he thinks Lawyer didn't deserve far worse than what he got.

[XForce]

8. Does every GOP

thug basically walk for many of their underhanded crimes now? Ever wonder why many today who commits misdemeanor or even some serious crimes don't take punishment seriously? If one has any basic GOP type of a backup in their buddy system, they know they will walk hardly untouched. IMHO I bet the Hammerhead Delay will pretty much walk also. Sickening isn't it?

[redqueen]

10. Welcome to DU, XForce

Two justice systems.

One for average people... another for the rich/republicans.

[XForce]

13. that's a bingoooooooo

You absolutely correct redqueen....and thank you for the welcome wagon.

[tonekat]

9. "Larry Liar"?

My mother in law came up with a good term for the Enron crooks, and the rest of their ilk:

Corporate Terrorists

Ah, but you'll never hear * referring to them in his neverending speechifyin' on "terra".

[Sadie5]

11. What about the donation

he gave to the Enron retirees, the $79,000? Will he now get a tax break on his charitable donation?