Michael Kopper, once the managing director of Enron Global Finance and a top lieutenant to former chief financial officer Andrew Fastow, reported to prison on Tuesday.
Kopper, who pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy in August 2002, was sentence last fall to 37 months behind bars. He will serve his time at a federal prison in Big Spring, Texas, about 300 miles west of Dallas, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Though Kopper could have received a 15-year sentence, prosecutors urged U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein Jr. to show leniency because his cooperation helped convict Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former chief executive officer Jeffrey Skilling. Kopper is also credited with helping the government indict several other former Enron finance executives, including Ben Glisan Jr. and Dan Boyle.
Under his plea deal, Kopper — who reportedly helped Fastow create the now-infamous off-the-books partnerships — agreed to forfeit $12 million he made in three of those arrangements, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Kopper is the ninth former Enron executive to serve prison time; six others await sentencing for a variety of crimes, the Chronicle also noted.