[JURIST] Richard Causey [Houston Chronicle profile; JURIST news archive], former Enron chief accounting officer, has reported to the Bastrop Federal Correction Institution [official website], a low-security facility in Texas, to begin serving his prison sentence for his role in the Enron accounting scandal [JURIST news archive]. Causey was sentenced to 66 months [JURIST report] last November after accepting [JURIST report] a plea deal [PDF text] and was required to turn himself in to begin serving his sentence by Tuesday. In addition to the prison sentence, he will forfeit $1.25 million to the US government and a claim to deferred compensation, which amounts to almost $250,000.

Causey's plea deal came just days before the scheduled trial [JURIST report] of fellow ex-Enron executives Kenneth Lay [Houston Chronicle profile; JURIST news archive] and Jeffrey Skilling [Houston Chronicle profile; JURIST news archive], who were both later convicted of conspiracy and fraud [JURIST report]. Lay's conviction was vacated [JURIST report] after he died before sentencing and Skilling began serving [JURIST report] his 24-year sentence last month. Former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow [Houston Chronicle profile] was sentenced [JURIST report] to six years in prison in September 2006 for his role in the accounting fraud. The Houston Business Journal has more. The Houston Chronicle has additional coverage.