Tom Kirkendall does a great job of explaining the likely implications of the plea deal by former Enron chief accountant Richard Causey. In a later post, Tom details the Causey cooperation agreement and its implications. Unlike the hyperbolic press reports, Tom's careful analysis suggests that the plea deal may not be as much of a problem for Lay and Skilling as the press thinks:
... inasmuch as Causey and his counsel have participated under a joint defense agreement with the Lay and Skilling defense teams for over two years now, virtually any of Causey's testimony would be subject to challenge as being derived from that joint defense effort. Moreover, as noted in this earlier post, Causey had problems in defending himself against the charges that Lay and Skilling do not, and his credibility may be subject to impeachment at trial through portrayal of the eve-of-trial plea deal as an effort to save his skin at the expense of his co-defendants.
