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Former Enron finance exec reports to prison

Former Enron Corp. executive Richard Causey has reported to prison to begin serving 5 1/2 years for his role in the company's scandalous collapse, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
/ Source: The Associated Press

Former Enron Corp. executive Richard Causey has reported to prison to begin serving 5 1/2 years for his role in the company's scandalous collapse, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Causey, 46, was listed Wednesday on the prison bureau's Web site as an inmate in the Bastrop Federal Correctional Institution, located about 30 miles southeast of Austin.

Causey, the former chief accounting officer who pleaded guilty in 2005 shortly before he was scheduled to be tried with other top Enron executives, had been listed on the Web site late Tuesday as "in transit."

Calls to the low-security prison weren't immediately returned early Wednesday.

The Houston Chronicle reported Tuesday that Causey, 46, was about to begin the term he was sentenced to in November for securities fraud.

His guilty plea came two weeks before he was to be tried along with Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling on conspiracy, fraud and other charges related to the company's collapse. Causey admitted that he and other senior Enron managers made various false public findings and statements.

Enron, once the nation's seventh-largest company, crumbled into bankruptcy proceedings in December 2001 after years of accounting tricks could no longer hide billions in debt or make failing ventures appear profitable. The collapse wiped out thousands of jobs, more than $60 billion in market value and more than $2 billion in pension plans.

After Causey serves his prison sentence, he will also have to serve two years' probation and pay a $25,000 fine that will be distributed to Enron's victims.

Causey had already agreed to pay another $1.25 million to the victims' funds and forfeited a claim to about $250,000 in deferred compensation.

His wife, Elizabeth Causey, declined comment late Tuesday and referred calls to lawyer Bob Mace, who also wasn't available.