United States Fifth Circuit

In an appeal arising from a prosecution charging that certain Enron and Merrill Lynch employees engaged in a conspiracy and scheme to defraud Enron and its shareholders, defendants' conspiracy and wire-fraud convictions are reversed on the legal ground that the government's theory of fraud relating to the deprivation of honest services was flawed. One defendant's conviction is vacated on grounds of insufficient evidence.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/01/2006
• Published 08/02/2006

Judges

• E. GRADY JOLLY, Circuit Judge:, Before REAVLEY, JOLLY and DeMOSS, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Sidney Katherine Powell (argued), Law Offices of Sidney Powell, Asheville, NC, Deborah Ann Pearce, Powell & Pearce, Austin, TX, for Brown., Lawrence Saul Robbins (argued), Alice Wan-Ping Yao, Gregory Lawrence Poe, Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orsek & Untereiner, Washington, DC, for Bayly., John Whitelaw Nields, Jr. (argued), William Lee Webber, Howrey, Simon, Arnold & White, Washington, DC, for Furst., Seth Paul Waxman (argued), Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale & Dorr, Washington, DC, Paul A. Engelmayer, Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, New York City, for Fuhs.


• For Appellees:
  
• Stephan Edward Oestreicher, Jr. (argued), Sangita Katikineni Rao, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Criminal Div., Washington, DC, James Lee Turner, Asst. U.S. Atty., Houston, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellee.