White Collar Crime

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The Fastows of Enron are going to jail and Martha Stewart-s about to face a jury, but are the biggest fish getting off the hook? Two years after the collapse of Enron, former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow has admitted to enriching himself and bilking investors by conspiring to commit fraud. He-s agreed to serve 10 years in prison and to forfeit $29 million, one of the harshest penalties ever for white collar crime. Do federal agencies have the will--and the resources--for a crackdown to persuade potential wrong-doers that fraud and deception aren-t worth it? With the stock market back on the upswing, do investors still care? We hear from a journalist who covers legal affairs for BusinessWeek, the manager of a hedge fund, an expert in financial deregulation from the American Enterprise Institute, and a legal expert on securities fraud litigation and business crime from New York University. Making News: The Iowa Polls With less than a week until the Iowa caucuses, Howard Dean-s much ballyhooed lead appears to be fading, but he did get a new supporter today when former Senator Carole Moseley Braun dropped out of the race and endorsed him. Flynn McRoberts, who's on the road in Iowa for the Chicago Tribune, has more on impact of Moseley Braun's endorsement, the results of the latest polls, and the tightening 2004 presidential race. Reporter's Notebook: President Bush-s Space Plan The first President Bush proposed a base on the Moon with an expedition to Mars by 2019, but the project was dropped in the face of cost estimates of $400 billion. Now, George W. Bush wants $11 billion from NASA-s existing programs to begin another such project. Howard McCurdy, author of Faster, Better, Cheaper: Low-Cost Innovation in the US Space Program, says some NASA programs will have to be scrapped.
The Fastows of Enron are going to jail and Martha Stewart-s about to face a jury, but are the biggest fish getting off the hook? Two years after the collapse of Enron, former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow has admitted to enriching himself and bilking investors by conspiring to commit fraud. He-s agreed to serve 10 years in prison and to forfeit $29 million, one of the harshest penalties ever for white collar crime. Do federal agencies have the will--and the resources--for a crackdown to persuade potential wrong-doers that fraud and deception aren-t worth it? With the stock market back on the upswing, do investors still care? We hear from a journalist who covers legal affairs for BusinessWeek, the manager of a hedge fund, an expert in financial deregulation from the American Enterprise Institute, and a legal expert on securities fraud litigation and business crime from New York University.
  • Making News: The Iowa Polls
    With less than a week until the Iowa caucuses, Howard Dean-s much ballyhooed lead appears to be fading, but he did get a new supporter today when former Senator Carole Moseley Braun dropped out of the race and endorsed him. Flynn McRoberts, who's on the road in Iowa for the Chicago Tribune, has more on impact of Moseley Braun's endorsement, the results of the latest polls, and the tightening 2004 presidential race.
  • Reporter's Notebook: President Bush-s Space Plan
    The first President Bush proposed a base on the Moon with an expedition to Mars by 2019, but the project was dropped in the face of cost estimates of $400 billion. Now, George W. Bush wants $11 billion from NASA-s existing programs to begin another such project. Howard McCurdy, author of Faster, Better, Cheaper: Low-Cost Innovation in the US Space Program, says some NASA programs will have to be scrapped.

Moseley Braun's campaign website

Reuters/MSNBC/Zogby Poll

McRobert's article on Moseley Braun's intention to drop out of race, endorse Dean

KCRW Election Connection

Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

Recent France article on possible impact of Fastow testimony

President Bush's space plan

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

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Warren Olney