It was a sensational day with disgraced numbers man Andrew Fastow's testimony that Ken Lay knew all about Enron's troubles, pointing to a conspiracy to defraud investors.

Fastow told the court that back in August 2001, he had told Lay about the company's problems, including its energy services and broadband units and its Indian power plant issues. That was just after Jeff Skilling had quit as CEO.

This sort of news was very different from the picture that Lay was presenting to BusinessWeek around that time:

"There are absolutely no problems that had anything to do with Jeff's departure. There are no accounting issues, no trading issues, no reserve issues, no previously unknown problem issues. The company is probably in the strongest and best shape that it has ever been in. There are no surprises... I think you'll continue to see strong growth in all of our business areas. Our revenues and income quarter-to-quarter continues to be strong and we have strong momentum. We think that will be sustained, and eventually, if we continue to do that, investors will recognize and reward us for that."

Students of the Enron saga will know that around that time, Lay was also getting information from another source: the unsigned letter that whistleblower Sherron S Watkins wrote after Skilling's sudden resignation.

As expected, Skilling's lead lawyer Daniel Petrocelli is doing his level best to portray the star witness as a reprehensible crook.

FASTOW:I think I said I was a Hero and I believed I was a hero in the context of Enron's culture
PETROCELLI: Were you a hero when you stole from Enron, yes or no?
FASTOW:No I was not
PETROCELLI: Were you a hero to Enron when you cheated and defrauded Enron's shareholders?
FASTOW: That's when I believe I was being a hero...but that's why I'm here today.

For a good description of the day's proceedings, check the Houston Chronicle's TrialWatch blog, including the comments of ex-HealthSouth chief Richard Scrushy who dropped in for a visit.

Scrushy, who knows a bit about the criminal justice system, said Fastow had zip credibility. ''I see this guy as a very dishonest man. I wouldn't trust him if he said the building were on fire."

And to think we're just a few weeks in. Who needs cable?