Lea Weingarten Fastow is a former Enron assistant treasurer who pleaded guilty to tax evasion and filing fraudulent

Income Tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

returns. The wife of former

Enron Enron Corporation was an American Energy development, energy, Commodity, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was led by Kenneth Lay and developed in 1985 via a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both re ...

executive and convicted felon

Andrew Fastow Andrew Stuart Fastow (born December 22, 1961) is an American convicted felon and former financier who was the chief financial officer of Enron Corporation, an energy trading company based in Houston, Texas, until he was fired shortly before the ...

, she was the second former Enron executive to go to prison after Enron collapsed due to fraud in December 2001. Fastow is a native of

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, where she was born into a Jewish family. Her mother was

Miriam Hadar Weingarten Miriam Hadar Weingarten () is an Israeli-American lawyer, model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Israel 1958 and represented Israel at Miss Universe 1958. Life Hadar-Weingarten was born in Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine (no ...

, winner of the

Miss Israel Miss Israel (also referred to as , , ) was a national beauty pageant in Israel. The pageant was founded in 1950, where the winners were sent to Miss Universe. History In the late 1920s, a "Esther, Queen Esther Beauty Pageant" was held in Tel Avi ...

competition in 1958, and her father was Jack Weingarten, of the

Weingarten's Weingarten's was a supermarket chain in the Southern United States until it was acquired by Safeway in 1983. J. Weingarten, Inc. had its headquarters in what is now the East End in Houston, Texas. History Hersch Harris Weingarten, a poor Jewi ...

supermarket chain, who was a real-estate broker. When she was young her parents divorced and her mother went on to marry to Akiva Nof, and from this marriage was born a half-sister. She graduated from

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

, where she met her future husband, and earned an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

. She and her husband both attended Congregation Or Ami, a conservative synagogue. In 2003, Fastow was indicted by a federal

grand jury A grand jury is a jury empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand ju ...

for

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

to commit

wire fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service) or electronic (e.g., a phone, a telegram, a fax, or the Internet) mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. fede ...

;

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

conspiracy and four counts of filing false

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

returns. She pleaded guilty on January 14, 2004, to submitting a fraudulent income tax return that did not include profits her family had received from her husband's off-the-books partnerships. Fastow reported to prison on July 12, 2004, and was released to a

halfway house A halfway house is a type of prison or institute intended to teach (or reteach) the necessary skills for people to re-integrate into society and better support and care for themselves. Halfway houses are typically either state sponsored for those ...

on July 11, 2005.

References

"Lea Fastow arrives early for prison"
''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

''. Reuters. July 12, 2004. *
United States v. Lea W. Fastow
'
Business: Crime paid, and here's what they'll pay back
* * * 1961 births Living people American energy industry executives Enron people Kellogg School of Management alumni Businesspeople from Houston Tufts University alumni American people convicted of tax crimes American women business executives American women company founders American people of Israeli descent 21st-century American women {{US-crime-bio-stub