Ex-Merrill execs face Enron retrials

Federal prosecutors may not retry three former Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. executives who had their 2004 fraud and conspiracy convictions connected to an Enron Corp. deal overturned last year, according to the Associated Press.
An appeals court in New Orleans threw out convictions against James A. Brown, Daniel Bayly and Robert S. Furst last year.
During a court hearing on Feb. 16, Assistant U.S. Attorney Arnold Spencer said while prosecutors want to retry the cases against Mr. Brown, Mr. Bayly and Mr. Furst “sooner rather than later,” they will also continue conversations with defense attorneys to resolve it without a second trial.
A fourth Merrill Lynch executive who was also convicted, William Fuhs, had his convictions erased for lack of evidence and cannot be retried.
Don Boyle, a former Enron financial executive was convicted, while in-house Enron accountant Sheila Kahanek was acquitted.
Mr. Boyle did not appeal and is serving a three-year, ten-month prison term.
The executives were convicted of helping engineer Enron’s 1999 sham sale of mobile power plants anchored off the coast of Nigeria to the brokerage to help the energy trader appear to have met earnings targets.