By Kristen Hays
The Associated Press

HOUSTON - Former Enron Corp. finance chief Andrew Fastow is negotiating a plea bargain that could send the high-powered executive to prison for his role in the accounting scandal that brought down the energy company, sources close to the case said Wednesday.

Authorities also were drawing up criminal charges against Enron's former chief accountant, Richard A. Causey, who is expected to surrender today.

The exact nature of the complaint was not immediately clear. Causey was assigned to review all Enron transactions with a partnership called LJM that was controlled by Fastow. Prosecutors say LJM was used to conduct sham transactions to fraudulently improve Enron's books and enrich Fastow and others.

If attorneys and judges agree on the proposed plea deal with Fastow, the former executive could appear in court to change his innocent plea to guilty as early as today, the sources said.

Fastow would be the highest-ranking executive to plead guilty in the criminal investigation of Enron. The company's collapse into bankruptcy in late 2001 was the first in a series of scandals that rattled corporate America and shook investors' confidence in the stock market.

Fastow allegedly masterminded a complex web of schemes that hid Enron's debt, inflated profits and allowed him to skim millions of dollars for himself, his family and selected friends and colleagues. Prosecutors say Fastow reaped an estimated $30 million from the Byzantine web of partnerships he set up.

The potential deal raises the possibility that prosecutors are closer to bringing a case against Enron's former top executives, Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling.

The Houston Chronicle reported that prosecutors are offering Fastow a 10-year sentence.

The maximum penalties for the charges against Fastow include 20 years in prison for money laundering, 10 years for securities fraud and five years each on the mail fraud and conspiracy charges.