ENRON CORP. - Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling were convicted in federal court in Houston Thursday in connection with the accounting fraud that led to Enron's 2001 collapse. Skilling was convicted of 19 counts, including fraud, conspiracy and insider trading, on charges connected to various alleged schemes to fool investors into believing Enron was financially healthy so Enron executives could pocket millions from sales of inflated stock. He was acquitted of nine charges that included insider trading. Lay was convicted on six counts for perpetuating the ruse upon Skilling's resignation in 2001, less than three months before Enron crumbled; he was also convicted of four counts of bank fraud and making false statements to banks in a separate trial related to his personal banking. Sentencing was set for Sept. 11; Lay faces a maximum of 165 years in prison on both of his convictions, while Skilling faces a maximum of 185 years.

Former top Enron accountant Richard Causey pleaded guilty to securities fraud last December and agreed to help pursue convictions against Lay Skilling. Causey will serve seven years in prison and forfeit $1.25 million (euro980,000) to the government, according to the plea deal. Former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow pleaded guilty in January 2004 to two counts of conspiracy, admitting to orchestrating schemes to hide the company's debt and inflate profits while pocketing millions of dollars. He agreed to serve the maximum 10-year sentence, which will begin in July 2006. Fastow testified against his former bosses.

Fastow's wife, Lea Fastow, completed a yearlong sentence last July on a misdemeanor tax charge for failing to report her husband's kickbacks. Former Enron treasurer Ben Glisan Jr. is serving a five-year sentence for his role in the scandal. And two former Merrill Lynch & Co. executives were sentenced to short prison terms for their roles in a bogus Enron sale of power barges.

CREDIT SUISSE FIRST BOSTON - A federal appeals court in March overturned the conviction of high-powered technology banker Frank Quattrone, granting him a new trial. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the jury instructions in Quattrone's trial were erroneous. CSFB's former investment banking star, Quattrone, who made a fortune taking Internet companies public during the dot-com stock boom, was convicted in May 2004 on federal charges of obstruction of justice, after his first trial ended in a hung jury.

QWEST COMMUNICATIONS INTERNATIONAL INC. - Former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio was indicted last December on 42 federal charges of insider trading accusing him of illegally selling off $101 million (euro79.2 million) in stock. In July 2005, Robin Szeliga, former CFO, pleaded guilty to one criminal count of insider trading to become the highest ranking officer to admit wrongdoing in a scandal that forced the telephone company to erase billions of dollars in revenue. She has reached a plea bargain in the SEC case, agreeing to cooperate with federal investigators. On March 3, former Qwest executive Marc B. Weisberg was fined $250,000 (euro196,000), and sentenced to 60 days of home detention after pleading guilty to wire fraud. Last December he pleaded guilty to a single charge of wire fraud in a deal that requires him to cooperate with prosecutors trying to convict Nacchio.

Qwest agreed last year to pay $250 million (euro196 million) to settle SEC charges of fraud in a deal that did not include individuals.

ADELPHIA COMMUNICATIONS CORP. - Michael Rigas, a son of the founder of Adelphia Communications Corp., pleaded guilty last November to a charge of making a false entry in a financial record, eliminating the need for his retrial on securities fraud and bank fraud charges in a scandal that forced the cable giant into bankruptcy. He was sentenced to 10 months of home confinement. John Rigas and his son Timothy were convicted in federal court last year of conspiracy, bank fraud and securities fraud. Last June, John Rigas was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and Timothy Rigas to 20 years. They are free pending appeal. A fourth executive, Michael Mulcahey, was found not guilty of conspiracy and securities fraud. Last October, John and Timothy were indicted in Philadelphia on charges they and other family members didn't pay $300 million (euro235 million) in taxes.

WORLDCOM INC. - Bernard Ebbers, who as CEO of WorldCom oversaw the largest corporate fraud in U.S. history, was sentenced last July to 25 years in prison. The sentence was handed down in U.S. District Court in Manhattan three years after WorldCom collapsed in an $11 billion (euro8.62 billion) accounting fraud, wiping out billions of investor dollars. A judge ruled last September that Ebbers can stay out of prison while he appeals his conviction.

HEALTHSOUTH CORP. - Former CEO Richard Scrushy was acquitted last June on all 36 federal counts of conspiracy, false reporting, fraud and money laundering in an alleged $2.7 billion (euro2.1 billion) earnings overstatement at the rehabilitation and medical services chain over seven years beginning in 1996. He blamed the fraud on 15 former HealthSouth executives who pleaded guilty. Hannibal "Sonny" Crumpler, a former HealthSouth executive, the second person to stand trial in the fraud, was convicted last November of conspiracy and lying to auditors for his role in the fraud. Last December, Bill Owens, a one-time HealthSouth chief financial officer, was sentenced to five years in prison. Owens was a main government witness in the failed prosecution of Scrushy.

TYCO INTERNATIONAL LTD. - Former CEO L. Dennis Kozlowski and CFO Mark H. Swartz were convicted in a New York state court last June on 22 of 23 counts of grand larceny, conspiracy, securities fraud and falsifying business records. Prosecutors accused the two of conspiring to defraud Tyco of millions of dollars to fund extravagant lifestyles. The two were sentenced last September to eight and one-third to 25 years in prison. A judge refused to release Kozlowski and Swartz on bail while they appeal their convictions.

MARTHA STEWART: A federal appeals court on Jan. 6 upheld the convictions of Martha Stewart and her one-time broker, Peter Bacanovic. The founder of the homemaking empire was released in March 2005 after serving five months in prison, and finished serving an additional five months and three weeks of home confinement at the end of August. She was convicted in federal court in 2004 of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements related to a personal sale of ImClone Systems Inc. stock. Bacanovic, her former broker at Merrill Lynch, served a five-month sentence.

CENDANT CORP.: Former Cendant Corp. Vice Chairman E. Kirk Shelton was convicted in federal court in January 2005 of conspiracy and securities, wire and mail fraud. He was sentenced last August to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay full restitution for his role in an accounting scandal that cost investors and the company more than $3 billion (euro2.35 billion). Shelton was ordered to pay $3.27 billion (euro2.56 billion) to Cendant. Shelton stood trial with former Cendant Chairman Walter Forbes, whose case ended in a mistrial. Forbes was retried last October and on February 10 a federal judge declared a mistrial. Prosecutors plan to try Forbes for a third time. Shelton is free pending his appeal.