A milestone in the Enron story

Andrew Fastow returns to Houston to complete prison sentence in halfway house

Andrew Fastow, before his sentencing in 2006

A new chapter in the Enron saga began in Houston on Monday when Andrew Fastow, one of the key figures in the flawed financial partnerships that brought the energy company down in 2001, returned to Houston to complete his federal incarceration in a halfway house.

A reliable source has told CultureMap that the former Enron chief financial officer arrived in the city via "private transport" within the past 24 hours from the Federal Correctional Complex in Pollock, La. The main prison's satellite camp, where Fastow was held, houses minimum security male offenders.

He has taken residence in a halfway house where he will finish the remainder of five years and three months of a six-year sentence that was originally 10 years, the maximum penalty for his admission to two conspiracy charges. The reduced sentence was part of a plea bargain that Fastow made in 2004 in which he agreed to testify in the trial against Enron top executives Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay.

Fastow was taken into custody in September 2006 for six years of imprisonment and two additional years at home under court supervision. That sentence was reduced to five years and three months, due to "good time" according to the source, which means that he will be able to leave the halfway house by the end of the year.

The source said that while no occupational assignment has yet been made for Fastow, he is subject to the requirements of all individuals in this situation.

Fastow's sentencing and early release stands in sharp contrast to that of Jeff Skilling, former Enron president who was convicted of multiple felony charges relating to Enron's financial collapse, who is currently serving a 24-year, four-month sentence.

Lay, who was convicted of multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy, died in 2006 of heart disease before he was sentenced.

Fastow will not be the first high-profile federal prisoner to complete his sentence in a Houston halfway house. When oilman Oscar Wyatt, who pled guilty to sending money to Iraq in the Food for Oil program, was released from federal prison in Beaumont in 2008, he spent 45 days in a downtown Houston halfway house and was assigned to work in a local law firm. At the time, his attorney said that Wyatt was allowed an increasing number of freedoms as his release date approached. One can expect the same for Fastow.

Once released from federal custody Fastow will rejoin his wife, art consultant Lea Weingarten Fastow, and their two sons. Lea Fastow served a one-year sentence ending in July 2005 for failure to report Enron-related financial gains on federal income tax returns. She also resided in a Houston halfway house before returning to her family.

At the time of the convictions, the Fastows relinquished close to $30 million in cash and property.

Fastow's attorney, David Gerger, could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday night.

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SUDDEN SHUTTERS

GameStop to close 11 Houston-area stores amid nationwide cuts

GameStop/ Facebook

Long lines for video game releases are a rarity these days.

For GameStop, it’s a blood bath right out of Mortal Kombat. The Grapevine-based video game chain is expected to shed 470 locations nationwide, including 11 in the greater Houston area.

The closures were revealed in the company's newest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that said it would close "a significant number of additional stores in fiscal 2025" ending on January 31. In its last fiscal year, GameStop shuttered 590 locations.

In addition to braving the overall “retail apocalypse,” the retailer faces the same conditions that largely decimated CD and video stores. Video games are now available for digital download in seconds and no longer require a trip to a physical store.

“As a part of our profitability initiative, we are reducing our global store base, which includes closing stores that are not meeting performance standards or stores at the end of their lease terms with the intent of transferring sales to other nearby locations,” the company wrote in its annual report. “ If we are unsuccessful in marketing to customers of the stores that we plan to close or in transferring sales to nearby stores, our results of operations could be negatively impacted.”

The current digital squeeze isn’t the first time GameStop has been thrown for a loop by contemporary internet culture. In 2021, the retailer famously became a meme stock, buoyed by users of Reddit's r/wallstreetbets. The skyrocketing increase in its stock price, followed by short selling, caused major financial consequences for hedge funds and other investors.

Since then, the stock price has been more stable but has decreased approximately 21 percent over the last year. After CEO Ryan Cohen bought 500,000 shares in the company on January 21, the price has slightly rebounded.

GameStop has not issued a formal list of the closures, and a request for more information was not returned at press time. But Ohio’s WKYC Studios put together a list of all the U.S. stores that are on the chopping block, verified through GameStop’s online store locator. The Texas closings are as follows:

Allen – The Village at Allen, 170 E. Stacy Rd
Arlington – Little School Road Shops, 1245 N. Little School Rd
Austin – Ben White Payload Center, 500 E. Ben White Blvd
Balch Springs – Lake June Plaza, 12209 Lake June Rd
Boerne – Menger Crossing, 1375 S. Main St
Cedar Park – Lakeline Plaza, 11066 Pecan Park Blvd
Conroe – Conroe Center, 1231 N. Loop 336 W
Corpus Christi – Padre Island Drive, 1805 S. Padre Island Dr
Corsicana – Corsicana Marketplace, 3811 W. Highway 31
Dallas – Glen Oaks Crossing, 4787 Vista Wood Blvd
El Paso – Alameda Town Center, 9411 Alameda Ave
El Paso – Fountains at Farah, 8889 Gateway West Blvd
Fort Worth – Clifford Retail, 301 Clifford Center Dr
Garland – Ridgewood Village, 2930 S. First St
Houston – Beechnut Street Houston, 10100 Beechnut St
Houston – Bellaire Gessner Center, 8880 Bellaire Blvd
Houston – Market at Uvalde, 13706 East Fwy
Houston – Market Square, 13341 Westheimer Rd
Houston – Oxford Plaza, 10407 North Fwy
Houston – Royal Oaks, 11807 Westheimer Rd
Houston – Wayside Shopping Center, 900 S. Wayside Dr
Huntsville – Ravenwood Village, 245 Interstate 45 N
Irving – MacArthur Park, 7601 N. MacArthur Blvd
Lake Jackson – Lake Jackson Shopping Center, 121 Highway 332 W
La Marque – LaMarque Crossing, 6408 Interstate 45
Laredo – Laredo Crossing Shopping Center, 4415 S. Zapata Hwy
Leon Valley – 5601 Bandera Rd
Lubbock – 7th St Lubbock, 1803 Seventh St
Magnolia – Westwood Village, 33020 FM 2978 Rd
Mansfield – Mansfield Crossing, 1301 E. Debbie Ln
Marble Falls – Highland Lakes, 2400 US Highway 281
McKinney – Lake Forest Crossing, 4100 S. Lake Forest Dr
Mesquite – Town East Mall, 2050 Town East Mall
Mission – Shary Plaza, 808 S. Shary Rd
Palmhurst – Palmhurst Shopping Center, 4416 N. Conway Ave
Paris – Paris Corners, 3842 Lamar Ave
Saginaw – Cross Pointe Shopping Center, 1453 N. Saginaw Blvd
San Antonio – Alamo Quarry Market, E. 255 Basse Rd
San Antonio – Blanco Road, 7117 Blanco Rd
San Antonio – Huebner Oaks Center, 11745 W. I-10
San Antonio – Northwoods Phase III, 1742 N. Loop 1604 E
San Antonio – Walzem Plaza, 5366 Walzem Rd
Stephenville – Stephenville Shopping Center, 2811 W. Washington St
Sulphur Springs – Sulphur Springs Corners, 1707 S. Broadway St
Terrell – Terrell Corner, 1888 W. Moore Ave
Tyler – State Highway 64 Tyler, 3842 State Highway 64 W
Watauga – Watauga Town Crossing, 8004 Denton Hwy

video games retail closings