What are you talking about? The trial lasted almost four months and the jury has reached a verdict on the sixth day. That's not long at all to review all of the evidence in this trial, considering multiple counts.
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
Jurors in the fraud and conspiracy trial of Enron Corp. founder Ken Lay and ex- Chief Executive Jeff Skilling reached a verdict today, shortly after the start of the sixth day of deliberations.
The verdict was to be announced at 11 a.m.
The panel has spent 16 weeks listening to often diametrically opposed testimony, with the government calling 25 witnesses plus three more on rebuttal. Several had struck cooperation agreements with the government and acknowledged crimes, and most claimed Lay and Skilling were part of a conspiracy to profit personally by duping the world about Enron.
"We stole. We all benefited financially at the expense of others," said former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow, who is expected to serve a 10-year prison sentence after admitting he masterminded fraudulent bookkeeping schemes and bled Enron to the tune of $45 million in the process.
The defense impugned Fastow's character and told jurors he was a liar then and he's a liar now, implying he fabricated evidence and testimony that Skilling approved of "bear hug" deals with Fastow's LJM partnerships to hide Enron debt and guarantee Fastow wouldn't lose money.
The defense called 31 witnesses, including Skilling and Lay, many taking the stand in brief stints to rebut specific points raised by the prosecution. Of course, the most important men to testify were Skilling and Lay themselves.
Skilling, 52, went first on April 10 and testified over eight days, much of it on direct examination by his Los Angeles-based defense attorney, Daniel Petrocelli.
Petrocelli, a career civil attorney trying his first criminal case, methodically took Skilling through each charge in four days of direct examination. Skilling had a reputation for being controlling and abrasive, but he seemed relaxed and downright professorial while telling jurors he committed no crimes, that most of Enron's dealings were legitimate and that the real criminal was Fastow.
One of Skilling's dramatic moments came on April 13, when Petrocelli seized on bubbling emotion and engaged his client in powerful exchange about what Skilling perceived as abuse of power by the Justice Department.
"We are innocent. And by 'we' I mean Enron Corporation," Skilling said. "It was a fine company. I am innocent of all of these charges, and I will fight for that for a long time."
Enron Task Force Director Sean Berkowitz began cross-examination the next week, and Skilling surprised many by keeping his cool despite pointed questioning that sometimes turned embarrassing and personal, such as his $180,000 stake in an ex-girlfriend's Internet startup company called Photofete that did business with Enron.
"Would you agree with me that this may be a conflict of interest, at least within the (company's) code of ethics?" Berkowitz asked.
"It may be," Skilling replied, appearing humbled.
Defense lawyers cited Photofete as a prime example of prosecutors seeking to smear Skilling and Lay, who also was an investor, by throwing information at the jury that is not part of the indictment.
"Don't come to Houston, Texas, and lie to us," Lay attorney Chip Lewis shouted at prosecutor John Hueston during closing arguments, referring to Photofete.
Lay, 64, took the stand April 24 and testified over six days. Contrary to Skilling's calm demeanor, Lay seemed easily irritated by defense attorney George "Mac" Secrest. Secrest was substituting for lead defender Mike Ramsey, who bowed out for much of the trial because of surgery.
Lay's demeanor turned from grouchy to hostile once Hueston began questioning, with fireworks popping as soon as cross-examination began when the prosecutor accused Lay of trying to contact potential trial witnesses to get their "stories straight."
Lay, sometimes snarling into the microphone, shot back at Hueston.
"I don't have a story. I have my recollection of the facts and they are totally different than Mr. Fastow's," Lay said.
In closing arguments, Berkowitz seemed to agree jurors should pay close attention to what Lay and Skilling said in the ninth-floor courtroom and contrast it to what they were told what actually happened on the 50th floor of the Enron Building, a few blocks down Smith Street.
"They lied to investors and omitted critical facts," Berkowitz said. "And they lied to you, ladies and gentlemen, from the stand."
Berkowitz also reminded the jurors that justice for Lay and Skilling, who invested at least $38 million combined in their united defense, should not be bought.
Ramsey, who recovered in time to make some closing arguments, warned jurors that only they could judge the facts and not the host of politicians, columnists, jilted investors and prosecutors who want to see Lay and Skilling behind bars.
"There may be a court in America that bends to political pressure but it's not this court! There may come a day when an American jury yields to a media mob, but it's not this jury," said Ramsey, one of Houston's most-respected criminal lawyers. "We're going to have a fair jury here."
The attorneys and Lake took one day to pick the eight-woman, four-man jury that heard the case. Many among the panel knew little about Enron, although some confided in questionnaires and in court that "greed" or misdeeds took the company down.
"I just kind of tune this out," one juror, an engineer, said at the hearing. "It's kind of old news."
Tuning out Enron has been a neat trick in the Houston area over the past five years as the ruination of what was dubbed the nation's seventh-largest company has remained the dominant U.S. corporate scandal among a flurry of such implosions around the turn of the century. Scandal also enveloped companies like WorldCom, Tyco and Adelphia, but Enron always has been at the forefront.
That's especially so in Houston, where thousands of employees lost their jobs — 4,000 at once the day after Enron filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 2, 2001. Many lost their retirement savings, which was invested in near-worthless Enron shares.
Enron was born in 1985 upon the merger of Houston Natural Gas and Omaha, Neb.-based InterNorth. The new company, then a massive pipeline concern, made Houston its home. Based on the vision of Lay, the chairman and chief executive, and Jeff Skilling, a consultant who later became chief operating officer, Enron became a major trader and proponent of open energy markets.
By August 2000, propelled by energy trading, new businesses such as retail energy services and Internet bandwidth and a reputation as one of America's most innovative and aggressive company's, Enron's share price crossed $90. Skilling replaced Lay as CEO the following February.
However, prosecutors say fraudulent bookkeeping and financial reporting started to become the norm at Enron by 1999, and the lawbreaking grew more rampant as the company internally struggled to impress Wall Street by keeping up its fantastic earnings growth.
Questions about Enron's accounts began to crop up in early 2001, rumors Lay and Skilling blame on short-sellers betting on the share price dropping. The stock price steadily slipped during the year, and Skilling abruptly announced his resignation for personal reasons in August.
Enron Vice President Sherron Watkins warned Lay of a potential accounting time bomb regarding Fastow's machinations shortly after Skilling left, but an investigation by Vinson & Elkins found no major issues. The Wall Street Journal began questioning Fastow's LJM transactions in mid-October, and he was ousted a week later.
The Securities and Exchange Commission began a formal investigation in October 2001 and Enron revised its financial statements for the previous five years to account for $586 million in losses on Nov. 8. Eleven days later, Enron restated its third-quarter earnings and revealed it was struggling to restructure a $690 million obligation looming on Nov. 27.
Enron was into its death spiral, and when smaller rival Dynegy nixed a last-ditch merger attempt, Enron was forced into bankruptcy.
On the civil front, shareholders' lawsuits against banks and others accused of enabling Enron have racked up about $7.3 billion in settlements, including interest, so far, offering former stock owners a chance of recovering at least some of what they put into the company.