This just in: graft, corruption at Enron

This weekend, there was news about more corruption at Enron — but this time, it involves post-meltdown Enron, not the Skilling/Lay version. On Friday, Christian Deeb Rahaim of Mandeville, La., pleaded guilty of defrauding the company out of $3 million in false consultation charges in 2005. Rahaim said he presented the company with a fraudulent $1.2 million bill for consulting services in June 2005, then tried to get an additional $1.8 million in November 2005.

Rahaim said he used the $1.2 million to pay off personal credit cards, open investment accounts and buy a $500,000 house in the Houston suburbs. Enron officials noticed his plan when he tried to complete the second transaction, which involved trying to transfer $1.8 million that Enron had recently wired to Bank One. Authorities recovered that money and took the house and the money left in the accounts Rahaim opened with the initial $1.2 million.

Rahaim is set to be sentenced in late March. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the amount of the losses to Enron.