Trial, Week 6: Fastowmania!

Sometimes it feels like the Ken Lay/Jeff Skilling trial has gone on for five weeks. Oh, wait.

The good news is, if you haven't been interested in the trial yet, you'll probably get interested this week when former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow takes the stand. Fastow was responsible for creating the two LJM partnerships, which were approved by the Enron board and helped the company maintain the appearance of prosperity. Though partnerships like that aren't illegal, prosecutors say the LJMs crossed ethical lines and investors weren't given details about them. Eventually, it was revealed that Fastow had made tens of millions of dollars from the partnerships, and huge Enron losses were blamed on the deals. Prosecutors are likely excited about Fastow's testimony because he can give previously unheard insight into Enron's executive suite; the defense will probably try to portray Fastow as one of the primary "bad guys" in the company's collapse (because Lay and Skilling, remember, had nothing to do with it). Even so, Fastow probably won't be the trial's star witness, the Chronicle reports.

It's not clear yet when Fastow will take the stand, but the best guess so far is Tuesday. Meantime, we can all puzzle over the sartorial solidarity of the Enron jury, which showed up in Western garb Friday, apparently to celebrate Texas Independence Day. Houstonist seems to remember from Runaway Jury that that's not such a good sign. Anyone seen Gene Hackman hanging around the federal building lately?