A former Enron executive will serve 63 months in prison without parole for submitting false invoices for consulting work — several years after the company filed for bankruptcy.
Christian Deeb Rahaim, formerly a senior director of benefits in the company’s human-resources department, was also ordered to pay more than $2.9 million in restitution to Enron Creditors Recovery Corp., according to a statement by Don DeGabrielle, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas.
Rahaim pleaded guilty last December. According to prosecutors, he admitted that during a six-month period beginning in February 2005, he used fraudulent invoices, a Canadian mail-drop, and various corporate entities to trick Enron into depositing funds into accounts that he secretly controlled. He allegedly acknowledged receiving $1.16 million from Enron that June, then transferring those funds to various accounts throughout the United States to pay personal credit-card debt, open personal investment accounts, and buy a half-million-dollar home in Cypress, Texas.
In November 2005, employees of Bank One reportedly raised questions about Rahaim’s attempt to transfer another $1.8 million that Enron had recently wired to the bank. When an investigation revealed that the transfer was based on a bogus invoice, Bank One froze the account and Enron terminated Rahaim’s employment.
In a separate forfeiture proceeding, the government announced that it seized more than $2.3 million derived from the fraud, as well as Rahaim’s home in Cypress.