Enron's Causey pleads guilty

Richard Causey, Enron's former chief accounting officer, pleaded guilty to securities fraud Wednesday, paving the way for Causey to (to borrow a phrase from our friends in the cartage industry) sing like a bird regarding the activities of ex-Enron Chairman Ken Lay and CEO Jeff Skilling.

The former chief accounting officer lacked the status and salaries of his two co-defendants, but the plea deal will likely make him valuable to the government's case.

Like former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow, who agreed to cooperate with the government in 2004, he has intimate knowledge of the company, particularly in its last days before it filed for bankruptcy.

Ken Lay is surely hoping Causey will join his wave of truth, but we get the idea the tide is turning for Lay and Skilling:

"To have another high ranking officer who knows the numbers but who hasn't been demonized the same way Fastow has serves the government's case very well," said Robert Mintz, a New Jersey-based legal expert who follows the case. "From the standpoint of wanting to go into the trial from a position of strength, this is not what Skilling and Lay were hoping for on the eve of trial."

An interesting dynamic here is the joint defense agreement Causey, Lay and Skilling had — meaning they agreed to share information for their trials. That means Causey might have some good dirt on his cronies, but depending on the terms of the agreement, that information might be off-limits or restricted. Either way, it'll be interesting to see how this plea affects things.