Reuters
Monday 04 June 2007
The former chief operating officer of Enron Corp.'s broadband Internet division, Kevin Hannon, was sentenced to 2 years in federal prison for his role in the fraud that led to the giant energy company's collapse, a court official said on Monday.
Hannon, 46, also received a $125,000 fine from U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore in Houston, a clerk for the judge said.
Hannon, who was COO of Enron Broadband Services from January 2000 to June 2001, pleaded guilty in August 2004 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors at the bankrupt company.
The former Internet executive, who testified for the prosecution at the criminal trial of his former bosses Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling in March 2006, had faced up to five years in prison.
At the time of his plea, Hannon also agreed to forfeit $2.2 million and pay $1 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil charges.
Hannon initially was indicted on charges of conspiracy, money laundering and insider trading,
In March 2003, Hannon and six other managers were charged in a 221-count indictment of hiding poor results in the broadband unit, which was once touted as one of Enron's brightest prospects.
Hannon's lawyer was not immediately available for comment on the sentence.
Enron, once the seventh-largest U.S. company, collapsed into bankruptcy in December 2001 after its use of off-balance-sheet financing to prop up its results and hide massive debts was revealed.
Lay and Skilling were convicted in May 2006 for their roles in the fraud that triggered the collapse of Enron. Skilling is serving a 24-year sentence in prison in Minnesota. Lay died of a heart attack in July 2006 and never served time in prison.