Bail Ordered for Merrill Execs

Two former Merrill Lynch executives convicted in connection with Enron Corp.’s bogus sale of power barges to the brokerage can post bond and be released from prison pending their appeals in the case, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Daniel Bayly and Robert S. Furst were two of five people convicted of helping push through Enron’s sale of power plants mounted on barges to the brokerage in 1999. The sale helped Enron to appear to have met earnings targets.

Bayly, of Darien, Conn., was serving a 2 1/2 -year sentence. Furst, of Dallas, was serving a sentence of three years and a month.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday ordered that Bayly and Furst be released from prison and have bond hearings.

In March, another Merrill Lynch executive convicted in the case, William Fuhs, was ordered by the 5th Circuit released from prison pending his appeal.

“We are delighted that the Court of Appeals has granted our application” for bail pending appeal, said Daniel Horwitz, Furst’s attorney.

Horwitz said a bond hearing for Furst was scheduled for today in Dallas.

Furst, Merrill’s former Enron relationship manager, was being held in a prison outside Dallas.

Attorneys for Bayly, who was Merrill Lynch’s former head of investment banking, did not return telephone calls seeking comment.

Samantha Martin, a spokeswoman for the Enron Task Force, had no comment on the appeals court’s ruling.

Furst and Bayly were two of five men convicted in November 2004 of conspiracy and wire fraud for helping to push through Enron’s sham sale of three power barges moored off the coast of Nigeria to the brokerage.

Jurors determined the sale was really a loan because Enron promised to resell or buy back Merrill’s $7-million interest within six months.