HOUSTON, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Jury deliberation began Thursday in the Houston trial of six former Enron and Merrill Lynch employees on charges of conspiracy and wire fraud.
U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein gave his final instructions to the jury at 4 p.m. after six weeks of testimony and evidence, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Two former mid-level Enron executives and four former Merrill Lynch bankers are charged in the first criminal trial to come out of the Enron investigation.
Prosecutors charge the six engaged in a 1999 scam to add $12 million to Enron's profit sheet in the bogus sale of three Nigerian power plant barges.
In closing arguments, a lawyer for former Merrill Lynch banker James A. Brown said his client pointed out the dangers of doing business with Enron.
"There is a world of difference between the image Enron presented to the world and the dark reality," attorney Lawrence Zweifach said. "Enron was nothing more than a snake pit."
Also on trial are former Enron executives Dan Boyle and Sheila Kahanek, and former Merrill Lynch employees Daniel Bayly, William Fuhs and Robert Furst.
