Former Enron Corp. chief financial officer Andrew Fastow, the financial mastermind of the energy trader's most illicit deals, testified on Tuesday he believed he was a hero by helping the company inflate profits, Reuters reported. Fastow took the witness stand as the government's star witness in the trial of former CEOs Jeffrey Skilling and Ken Lay and wasted no time in linking the two men to the crimes that drove the once-seventh largest U.S. company to bankruptcy. "I thought I was being a hero for Enron," Fastow calmly said in a steady voice. "At the time, I thought I was helping myself and helping Enron to make its numbers." Fastow, 44, is the highest ranking executive to testify against Skilling and Lay, who together face more than three dozen charges of conspiracy, fraud and insider-trading linked to the then-largest ever U.S. bankruptcy in December 2001. Enron's dramatic fall from Wall Street darling to corporate pariah was the first in a wave of scandals that rocked U.S. business and led to the adoption of stricter disclosure laws. Fastow has pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud and will serve a 10-year sentence under an agreement with the government. His wife, Lea, served a one-year jail term for tax fraud that derived from his case. --More 21 15 Local Time 18 15 GMT
