Ex-Enron Executive Pleads Guilty to Fraud

Former Enron Corp. Assistant Treasurer Timothy Despain was charged in federal court in Houston with conspiracy to commit securities fraud and has agreed to cooperate with U.S. prosecutors investigating the company.

Despain, who worked at Enron from January 1999 to May 2002, waived being indicted by a grand jury and agreed to appear before a federal judge to plead guilty to one count of securities fraud conspiracy.

Despain, charged with misstating Enron's finances to boost its credit rating, is expected to assist the Enron Task Force in its effort to build a case against former Enron executives Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling, and six former Enron and Merrill Lynch & Co. employees currently on trial for the allegedly fraudulent sale of Enron energy barges.