http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a.30HLPzmFos&refer=us
Excerpt:
`High-Class Crook'
Fewer than 7 percent of potential jurors summoned in the case could be fair, based on responses given by people who were considered for the jury pool, said Edward Bronson, an expert hired by the defense to examine their questionnaires. One referred to Lay as the ``biggest lying crook of all.'' Skilling was also described as a ``thief'' and a ``high-class crook.''
Lay and Skilling, who pleaded not guilty to all charges, face potential prison sentences of more than 30 years, said Kirby Behre, a former federal prosecutor and author of a book on U.S. sentencing guidelines.
Their trial, which will be covered by hundreds of U.S. and foreign journalists, will last at least 18 weeks, prosecutors and defense lawyers estimated. Lake, a graduate of the University of Texas Law School, has a reputation for moving cases along quickly, sometimes timing lawyers' arguments.
Enron collapsed in December 2001 and filed for the largest bankruptcy after WorldCom Inc. The company fired more than 5,000 people. Investors claim in a lawsuit that they lost $30 billion as Enron stock plummeted following disclosures of improper accounting. Employees allege they lost $1 billion on Enron shares in retirement funds.
CEOs Convicted
A government crackdown on corporate crime after Enron's bankruptcy led to the prosecutions of the CEOs of WorldCom, HealthSouth Corp., Adelphia Communications Corp., Tyco International Ltd. and Rite Aid Corp. All the CEOs were convicted of fraud except HealthSouth founder Richard Scrushy, who now faces bribery charges in an unrelated case.
The demise of Enron led to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the broadest revision of U.S. securities laws in seven decades. The 2002 law strengthened auditing standards and forced companies to enhance financial controls. CEOs and top financial officers must now sign financial statements, certifying their accuracy.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_06/b3970082.htm
Excerpt:
It is entirely possible that Lay will beat the rap. As last year's acquittal of HealthSouth Corp. (HLSH ) CEO Richard Scrushy showed, financially complex executive suite prosecutions are problematic by definition. Fraud and conspiracy are crimes of commission, not omission -- Lay's managerial forte. Lay "glided on the coattails of others and a Rolodex of influential relationships," says Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean at the Yale School of Management and founder of the Chief Executive Leadership Institute. "When he sensed dangerous truths, he saw his job as one of containment, rather than showing courage or character."
Lay is as audacious a defendant as he once was a corporate promoter. Even as the disgraced ex-CEO was readying himself for trial, he launched a PR campaign to overturn history's verdict against him with a defiant speech on Dec. 13. "Contrary to popular belief today, I firmly believe that Enron was a great company," Lay told some 250 invited VIPs at the Houston Forum. If not for the wrongdoing of "less than a handful" of rogue employees, he added, Enron would not have gone belly-up and would "still be a great and growing company today."