Former CFO of Enron, Andrew Fastow, pleaded guilty today and agreed to a ten year sentence and the forfeiture of over $20 million. He also agreed to cooperate with the Government in its continuing investigation of others, presumably Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay.

Those close to the case expect Skilling will be charged soon and that Lay will be under great scrutiny.

Lea Fastow is set to plead guilty this afternoon. Andrew will to stay free on bail and not begin his sentence until after he he has finished his cooperation--probably months from now. Amazing what benefits you can get when you agree to cooperate.

Only one Enron exec is now in jail--Ben Glisan Jr. is doing five years after pleading guilty without a plea bargain and refusing to cooperate.

Update: Andrew Fastow's plea agreement is here (pdf).

Update: We have read the plea agreement and it is one of the toughest ones we've ever seen. There is no right of appeal provided he gets no more than ten years; He can't ask for a sentence less than ten years; He can't collaterally attack the sentence; The Government will not ask for a (rule 35) sentence reconsideration based on Enron-related cooperation; the conditions of cooperation are onerous. If either he or his wife don't fulfill their ends of the bargain, both deals are off. We can only imagine what Mr. Fastow's guidelines would have been had he been convicted at trial in order for him to accept this plea--as one of our commenters point out, it had to be life or close to it. The only concession (other than time) he got appears to be the guarantee that he doesn't begin his sentence until his wife finishes her's.