Enron's former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow was "visibly shaken and turned pale" yesterday when told former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling was sentenced to 24 years in federal prison, according to lawyers familiar with Fastow.

Fastow, a key witness in the government's case against Skilling, pleaded guilty to securities fraud and received only a six-year sentence, reduced from a possible ten years because of his extensive cooperation with the government.

Fastow was giving testimony in a civil lawsuit when he learned of Skilling's lengthy sentence.

"Fastow is very emotional about the fact that he has two young children who he won't see for at least six years," the lawyer said.  "No doubt, he was thinking of the longer sentence he might have served if he had not cooperated."

Fastow, currently in custody at the Federal Detention Center in Houston, is cooperating with civil attorneys who are seeking billions of dollars in damages from five banks that financed Enron.

"Fastow has absolute acceptance of his role in everything, and freely admits that he, together with Enron's banks, committed fraud to deceive investors and rating agencies to prop up the company," said a lawyer familiar with Fastow's testimony.

Citibank, JP Morgan, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and others have so far paid out $7.3 billion dollars in settlements as a result of the lawsuits brought by San Diego attorney Bill Lerach, who is also pursuing legal action against Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse First Boston.

"The $7.3 billion is currently earning $550,000 in interest daily, which is more than Enron ever earned," said Lerach. "We expect to recover billions more before we're done, making this the largest litigation cash recovery case in the world."