Following up on a report Monday on JURIST's Paper Chase, jury selection was completed and opening arguments began Tuesday morning in the first criminal trial in the fallout of the Enron Corp. scandal. On trial are six defendants, two former executives from Enron itself and four from Merrill Lynch, facing charges of fraud and conspiracy.

The case involves the allegedly fake transfer of valueless barges from Enron to Merrill Lynch, which then returned the assets after profits reports were made. The trial is expected to be a test of prosecutors' ability to flesh out for a jury the complicated accounting tactics involved in the charges. The full indictment of the six can be viewed here [PDF]. The Houston Chronicle has an overview of the trial and more.