Enron CFO's Wife Is Out Of Jail

Lea Fastow, wife of former Enron Corp. finance chief Andrew Fastow, left federal prison early Monday morning en route to a halfway house to serve the rest of her sentence, according to news reports.

Mrs. Fastow, who was serving a yearlong sentence for lying about income from an Enron deal on her tax return, was taken to a downtown Houston facility where she will be held until July 10, Houston television station KTRK and the Houston Chronicle Web site reported.

Her soon-to-be-incarcerated husband, a key figure in the Enron scandal, was at her side, the newspaper said.

"It's been a tough year, but it's supposed to be a tough year," Mrs. Fastow, 43, said. "I am going home to my family soon. That's exactly what I'm looking forward to."

She was whisked away in a private car with her husband, sister and attorneys, the newspaper said.

Lea Fastow's attorney, Mike DeGuerin, and prison officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Andrew Fastow has pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the energy company's collapse in exchange for a 10-year prison term that was to be served after his wife's release. He also has agreed to help the prosecution in pending cases against Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling.

Mrs. Fastow pleaded guilty in May 2004 to helping her husband hide ill-gotten income from financial schemes that fueled Enron's December 2001 crash.

An heiress to a Houston grocery and real-estate fortune, she had been an assistant treasurer at Enron but quit in 1997 to focus on motherhood. She and her husband of 20 years have two children.

In February, U.S. District Judge David Hittner denied a request from Mrs. Fastow's attorney that she be released from prison before her sentence ended. Hittner had imposed the maximum prison term possible and refused to accept a plea deal that would have split her time between prison and home confinement.