Enron founder Kenneth Lay leaves the courthouse at the end of his banking fraud trial as the jury continues to deliberate his fate in his fraud and conspiracy trial Tuesday, May 23, 2006 in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
Posted on 05/25/2006 9:18:29 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
HOUSTON - Former Enron Corp. chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were convicted Thursday of conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud in a case born from one of the biggest business scandals in U.S. history.
The verdict put the blame for the demise of what was once the nation's seventh-largest company squarely on its top two executives. It came in the sixth day of deliberations following a trial that lasted nearly four months.
Lay was also convicted of bank fraud and making false statements to banks in a separate trial related to his personal banking.
The former corporate titans are now convicted felons facing years in prison when the panel found them guilty of running an elaborate fraud that gave the nation's onetime seventh-largest company a glamorous illusion of success.
Jurors declared through their verdict that both men repeatedly lied to cover a vast web of unsustainable accounting tricks and failing ventures that shoved Enron into bankruptcy protection in December 2001.
The conviction was a major win for the government, serving almost as a bookend in an era that has seen prosecutors win convictions against executives from WorldCom Inc. to Adelphia Communications Corp. and homemaking maven Martha Stewart.
Enron founder Kenneth Lay leaves the courthouse at the end of his banking fraud trial as the jury continues to deliberate his fate in his fraud and conspiracy trial Tuesday, May 23, 2006 in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
Jurors reach verdict in trial of Enron executives Kenneth Lay & Jeffrey Skilling(Read at 12:00EST)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1638119/posts
These guys should have been taken into custody today IMO.
Will they be sentenced before their appeal process?
I agree.
Too bad these guys weren't Mexican Criminals.....they would not only get to walk.......we would be paying them!
Sentencing on September 11th,, not sure they will be held until appeals clear, that would take years, I suspect not.
Ouch!
Thanks April.
I'd like to disagree. I can't. Strange times...
Good riddance, dirtbags. Get ready to meet your new best friend, Ben Dover.
Both have the means to flee, so it will be interesting what the judge does.
Bye-bye, Kenny.
I want a webcam in his cell block, so I can watch this scumbag serve his time.
Isn't there a photo of bjc golfing w/Lay?
Flee? Where? With no passport and their face recognition,
they don't have many choices.
Iran? Myanmar?
I'm not arguing the verdicts - but I do think if you're looking at Enron it's pretty hard not to wonder about the equity in having Rebecca Mark sitting pretty on the $64M parachute she received when she left Enron in 2000. Much of her "management acumen" put Enron in the position where Fastow, Skilling & Lay had strong incentives to play fast an loose. Of course - in the public perception - it was women whitleblowers who uncovered corporate corruption, so it wouldn't be possible for a woman executive to have submarined Enron.
Two of the biggest thieves in American history were just handed the verdict of 12 of their peers. Confirmed felons, trash who ruined the lives of thousands for stolen dollars to live and act large. I only hope their destination is Leavenworth or Marion, Illinois and not some country club like the "jail" for white collar criminals at Eglin Air Force Base, replete with golf course, etc.
Next up: Franklin Raines, Clinton crony.
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