Former Enron CFO pleads innocent to 78-charge indictment

HOUSTON -- Former Enron Corp. chief financial officer Andrew Fastow pleaded innocent Wednesday to a 78-count federal indictment charging him with masterminding complex financial schemes that enriched him and helped doom the energy trading powerhouse.

"Your honor, in answer to each of the charges, I am not guilty," Fastow said to U.S. Magistrate Judge Marcia Crone during a five-minute hearing.

Attorneys for Fastow and the Justice Department had no comment after the arraignment.

Fastow, ousted a year ago as Enron spiraled toward bankruptcy, initially was charged Oct. 2 and indicted last week on various counts of fraud, money laundering, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and other charges.

If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 860 years in prison, though under federal sentencing guidelines he would likely receive far less.

The indictments, returned by a special Enron grand jury in Houston, allege Fastow crafted multiple schemes that produced phantom profits and let him skim millions for himself, his family and inner circle.

Fastow's attorneys have said top Enron executives approved his work and that Fastow did not believe he committed any crimes. Former chief executive officers Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay were Fastow's immediate superior at different times.

Fastow, 40, is free on $5 million bond. A pretrial conference has been set for Jan. 13 before U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt.