UPI NewsTrack Business

Enron's Causey in plea deal talks

HOUSTON, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Former Enron chief accountant Richard Causey is in plea negotiations with prosecutors in the most complex corporate fraud investigation in U.S. history.

Lawyers for Causey, 45, and the Justice Department's Enron Task Force have not agreed to specific terms of a plea deal, including what charge he might plead guilty to and a potential prison sentence, sources told The Washington Post.

However, his testimony could help the government substantially streamline its fraud case against former chairman Kenneth Lay and CEO Jeffrey Skilling. The three men are scheduled to stand trial in Houston on Jan. 17, and could face decades behind bars if they are convicted on fraud and conspiracy counts.

Fifteen former corporate executives already have agreed to plead guilty and help federal prosecutors, including investor-relations personnel and other officials with accounting and deal-making expertise.

Enron's December 2001 bankruptcy cost investors billions of dollars and sent the stock markets reeling.

Report: Guidant knew of device's faults

NEW YORK, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Flaws in a heart defibrillator were known by manufacturer Guidant, but were viewed as acceptable within a statistical realm, the New York Times reports.

The Indianapolis-based company filed papers in a Texas court indicating officials were aware in 2002 that the consequences of the defibrillator's electrical failure were rare, but could be "life threatening." Despite that assessment, Guidant kept selling potentially flawed devices and did not notify doctors about the defect until last spring, when the problem was about to be made public by the Times, the newspaper said.

At least seven people have died because of the flaw, and Guidant has since recalled 80,000 implantable defibrillators in June. In September, Guidant recalled 380,000 pacemakers.

A chart on the document submitted to the court shows the company's acceptable failure rate was about 15 devices a year, a rate of slightly more than one a month.

"For Guidant, these people are numbers," said Dr. William Maisel, chairman of the Food and Drug Administration advisory committee that reviews heart devices. "Their descriptions are full of numbers. But for me, these patients are people."

UPS pilots' strike talks recessed

ATLANTA, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- A threat of a strike by United Parcel Service pilots has been diminished after a federal mediator ordered a 30-day cooling off period in negotiations.

The "indefinite recess" allows the union for the 2,400 pilots and UPS to communicate but sets no deadlines, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said Saturday. The talks have been interrupted at least twice in the last three years.

UPS and its pilots, who earn about $175,000 a year on average, have been talking for more than three years, and pilots say they remain about $40 million apart. Pilots want to improve their schedules and working conditions, in addition to raising pay, retirement and health benefits.

The company has signed labor deals with its drivers and other work groups in the last three years, but pilots are working under a contract that came open nearly two years ago.