US prosecutors are asking that two former Enron executives be given reduced sentences for their co-operation in their investigation and subsequent convictions of the company's top leaders.
Michael Kopper, once the top lieutenant to former Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow, and Mark Koenig, the company's former investor relations director, will be sentenced separately today.
Kopper (41) was the first former Enron executive to plead guilty to charges stemming from the company's collapse.
He led federal prosecutors to Fastow, who in turn led them to Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling.
Fastow just began serving six years in a federal prison in Louisiana. Lay and Skilling were convicted in May of conspiracy and fraud. Lay's convictions were wiped out with his July death from heart disease.
Skilling was sentenced last month to more than 24 years in prison and will begin serving his sentence next month at a low-security prison in Minnesota.
Kopper pleaded guilty in 2002 to money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and could be sentenced to 15 years in prison. He also surrendered nearly $12 million in ill-gotten gains.
Koenig (51) who helped present the company's false financial reports to investors, pleaded guilty in August 2004 to one count of aiding and abetting securities fraud, which carries up to 10 years in prison.
But prosecutors say Koenig warrants a substantial reduction in his sentence because of the remorse shown and because his assistance resulted in the guilty pleas of other Enron executives and contributed to the successful prosecution of Lay and Skilling.