Ex-Enron executive’s conviction overturned

A federal judge has overturned the jury conviction of Kevin Howard, a former executive in Enron Corp.’s defunct broadband unit, citing an appeals court opinion issued in August.

In May 2006, a jury in U.S. District Court in Houston found Howard guilty on five counts of conspiracy, wire fraud and falsifying books related to his role in a sham deal that prosecutors said hid the broadband unit’s weak finances.

In the opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans referenced in Howard’s reversal, most convictions against four former Merrill Lynch bankers concerning a bogus barge deal with Enron were overturned.

The judges on the appeals court said the convictions of the Merrill bankers could not be upheld because of the flawed use of the so-called “honest-services” theory, which revolves around the breach of honest services owed under a contract.

U.S. Judge Vanessa Gilmore wrote in an opinion dated Wednesday that the appeals court decision had changed “the law on what constitutes honest services wire fraud.”

She also cited erroneous jury instructions as a reason one count of Howard’s conviction should be overturned.

Howard’s convictions were linked to a project at Enron Broadband Services named Braveheart. Prosecutors said the project illicitly generated more than $110 million in revenue in late 2000 and early 2001.