HOUSTON, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Jury selection began Monday in the first Enron criminal trial, a case that involves two mid-level former employees and the sale of Nigerian barges.
About 100 prospective jurors from 13 Houston-area counties were expected to fill out questionnaires in the first step of the selection progress, the Houston Chronicle reported. Testimony was scheduled to begin Tuesday.
The defendants include two former mid-level Enron employees, Dan Boyle and Sheila Kahanek. They are facing conspiracy and fraud charges, along with four former Merrill Lynch bankers, James A. Brown, Daniel Bayly, William Fuhs and Robert Furst.
The charges focus on the 1999 sale of three electricity-generating barges off the Nigerian coast to Merrill Lynch.
Federal prosecutors allege it was a scam was designed to make it appear Enron made a $12 million profit.
Defense attorneys say their clients did not know their actions were wrong and they acted on the advise of lawyers.
