Lea Fastow
Age: 42
Husband: Enron CFO Andrew Fastow
Residences: Houston and Galveston, Texas; Vermont. The couple was building a $4 million Tudor mansion when Andrew was indicted. It’s since been sold.
Personal Style: Texas socialite.
Conspicuous Consumption: Bought sculptures by Claes Oldenburg and Donald Judd for Enron as a member of a three-person company art committee with a $20 million budget.
Before She Met Him: The Houston society wife was a Houston society daughter.
What She’s Doing Now: Prepping for five months in jail and five of house arrest for filing false tax returns on behalf of Enron.

Barbara Amiel
Age: 63
Husband: Newspaper baron Conrad Black
Residences: Park Avenue; Toronto; London; a $14 million–plus Palm Beach pad.
Personal Style: Imelda Marcos meets Alexander McQueen.
Conspicuous Consumption: A Hollinger jet she allegedly spent more than $3 million redecorating; 100 pairs of Manolos.
Before She Met Him: Acid-tongued conservative columnist.
What She’s Doing Now: Watching the dinner-party invitations dry up. “So many people didn’t like them before,” says one acquaintance. “And now they’re gleeful because they don’t have to pretend to like them anymore.”

Karen Kozlowski
Age: 42
Husband: Former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski
Residences: Fifth Avenue (worth roughly $30 million); Boca Raton, Florida; Greenwich, Connecticut; Nantucket, Massachusetts; New Hampshire; and a yacht, The Endeavor.
Personal Style: Aging Playboy bunny.
Conspicuous Consumption: A $5 million wedding ring; that $2 million birthday party on Sardinia (the one with the cake shaped like a naked woman, with sparklers coming out of her breasts).
Before She Met Him: Waitress in a New Hampshire restaurant.
What She’s Doing Now: Accompanying Dennis to court in somber suits.

Related:

• Archive: “Intelligencer Features”
• Articles by Jacob Bernstein
• Table of Contents: March 8, 2004 issue of New York | Subscribe!