Seven years later, Enron figure cleared

Oct 21, 2009 (Houston Chronicle - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- ENRNQ | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Seven years ago Scott Yeager had no idea what the mighty power of the U.S. government could do to an innocent man. Now he does.

"I want the public to know what it's like to be unjustly accused," said Yeager in an interview in his cousin's bright Greenway area office Tuesday, hours after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Yeager finally acquitted.

Yeager, 57, who was a strategic business executive in Enron's Internet broadband section, has spent seven years trying to clear his name, one of the lesser-known in the Enron scandal.

In that time he's seen those who prosecuted him rewarded.

He's seen the Enron Internet ideas the government tried to prove unworkable become commonplace.

And he's had his civil rights curtailed--not allowed to own a gun or visit his grandson in Canada, required most months to report to the federal probation department.

"They shouldn't be allowed to destroy your life. People need to understand there is no down side for them," he said of the prosecutors who filed the Enron cases.

John Kroger, the prosecutor who told Yeager he'd likely wind up in prison for life if he fought the charges, is now Oregon's attorney general.

Yeager does not come across as bitter or angry. He comes across as thoughtful and thankful for his supportive family and friends, his faith in God and his lawyers, Tony Canales and Samuel Buffone. They argued and won Yeager's case at the U.S. Supreme Court.

"It was surreal, amazing," Yeager said of sitting in the imposing high court hearing the justices say his name. He wasn't happy to be there, but he's glad his case created a precedent that could keep others from facing a kind of double jeopardy.

None were convicted

Yeager, who had worked previously for communications companies, viewed Enron as one of the most innovative companies in the world when he joined it to help invent new networks. He was a little perplexed when he was asked to leave 18 months later, just a few months before the company's December 2001 bankruptcy, because he wasn't into the financial structures Enron was developing.

In a 2005 trial, Yeager and others were accused of trying to bolster stock prices by lying about the technological capabilities of the broadband division's network. No one was convicted in the trial.

Yeager was acquitted of conspiracy and fraud but the jury deadlocked on insider trading and money laundering charges.

His lawyers argued that the charges were intertwined and that retrying him would be like double jeopardy.

The Supreme Court agreed and sent the case back down to the 5th Circuit, which ordered the trial court to acquit Yeager.

The Justice Department declined comment on the decision.

"I really want some good to come of this," said Yeager, a native Houstonian who now lives on a Hill Country ranch and works for nonprofits. "The public should be objective when they hear an accusation. They should go 'What if that was me? What if there was another side of the story that's not coming out?'"

He said he was naive about the system before this ordeal. He thinks others are too, and may be too quick to believe the government when someone is indicted.

Yeager recalled being relieved when he heard an FBI agent's voice mail, which he still has, telling him he was one of the "good guys." But two weeks later in 2002, he was told he was a target.

"I was told I might get five years if I would make up lies about people or I could fight this and to go prison for life if I lose," Yeager said.

Why did he decide to fight?

"I don't know ... your upbringing, your sense of justice, honesty. It was counter to what I was taught my whole life. I'm an American patriot. This is my country," Yeager said.

He said he knew the odds were against him but he refused to lie to get a deal.

He said he's still proud of the work he did at Enron, still sure he and his colleagues did nothing wrong and convinced his division's plan for a network was realistic -- an idea bolstered as he sees others doing similar things today.

"Essentially, I was indicted for being an inventor," he said.

Other Enron cases

In other Enron-related cases the defendants were not so lucky.

Enron accounting firm Arthur Andersen lost in trial. The Supreme Court overturned the conviction, but the firm collapsed amid the scandal.

Most defendants accused in Enron-related charges involving an allegedly sham barge sale lost in trial but saw convictions overturned.

Former CEO Jeff Skilling lost in trial and now, like Arthur Andersen and Yeager before him, his case will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Although the four men tried with Yeager weren't convicted by the jury, one later pleaded guilty, two were later acquitted and one case is still pending.

mary.flood@chron.com

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