"Hellary, I have some friends... Jeff Skilling, and this guy Kenneth Lay, who wants to contribute to your library..."
"Ask no more, Denise.. They are pardoned!"
Posted on 06/17/2006 10:34:23 AM PDT by wagglebee
Former Enron Corp. President Jeffrey Skilling says he contemplated suicide after his company crumbled and authorities began to ratchet up legal pressure on him.
"I've come to the conclusion that life is better than the alternative, which was not a conclusion that was real clear to me for a period of time," Skilling told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published in Saturday editions.
Skilling, 52, said he sought psychiatric help but was only able to emerge from a deep, two-year malaise after his 2004 indictment in which he was charged with conspiracy, fraud and insider trading, among other counts.
"The indictment, in a lot of ways, that was the turning point," Skilling told the newspaper. "That's when I started climbing back."
During those couple of years of depression, Skilling said he turned into a recluse, retreating to his mansion in an upscale part of Houston, where he lingered in bed and obsessively followed coverage of the scandal.
In the interview, Skilling insisted he was innocent despite a jury convicting him on 19 counts.
Skilling says that he stupidly helped convict himself by telling federal authorities — whom he described as the "Gestapo" — too much.
"I was the best source of information that the government had," he said. "Absolutely."
Skilling also said he endured two weeks in the Utah wilderness, hiking 30 miles a day, to prepare for the exhausting trial. During that time, he ate caterpillars and worms.
Skilling realizes he'll likely get a long prison term when he's sentenced but believes he can cope with life behind bars. He told the newspaper he has an incentive to survive.
"At some point, people will ask what really happened (at Enron)," he said. "It would be good if they had someone there who could tell them."
It would have guaranteed their conviction. By going to trial they had an outside shot of beating it.
They could have fled with the money the way Marc Rich did and the conviction wouldn't have mattered.
He says he was so depressed he considered suicide.
I wonder how the older company employees felt when they lost their life savings. Can you imagine the hundreds of people going to bed at night, knowing they have lost their retirement?
Skilling killing Skilling would have been the only honorable way to resolve his crime. A person who had a key role in the fraud that stole thousands of people's futures, encouraged the curse of Sarbanes-Oxley on American industry, should be put to death. If by his own hand, the better. I guess his narcissism won out.
Agreed, one of the things the Japanese get right.
Angry that he ratted himself out on crimes he actually comitted. No remorse there.
Get over it Jeff. You're a criminal.
"Hellary, I have some friends... Jeff Skilling, and this guy Kenneth Lay, who wants to contribute to your library..."
"Ask no more, Denise.. They are pardoned!"
The movie "Office Space" is hitting the discount bins. There is a nice lively discussion about “Federal pound you in the --- prison”. Maybe Jeff should get a few of those in the mail.
They were cashing in on the good times by doing something NOT VERY SMART. They got burned. They share much of the blame for their retirement being wiped out.
Roger that..
Too bad the bastard didn't have the courage to off himself.
Semper Fi
His sentence has been delayed until Oct 23rd, and I believe he is trying to force the govt. to release $60 mil of his before that date to "pay his legal bills" .
(remember this is the guy that stashed $20 mil in an escrow for his lawyer before the govt. could sieze his assets...which raised several eyebrows even amongst defense attorneys.)
My bet is he is not going to see Oct. 24th.
This attitude is typical of criminals and liberals. Make yourself out the victim and cry for sympathy.
Anyone who's ever entered a legal battle in an idealistic frame of mind is going to be torn to shreds and fed to the dogs by the opposing side, especially prosecutors, who care nothing about anything except a conviction -- certainly nothing about the truth.
His attitude toward prison is absolutely amazing.
Read the interview, and play this little game with yourself: forget that you [generically] are convinced that he's guilty (because you probably are, though you don't have a clue what he's accused of doing or how effective the evidence against him -- you know only what you were allowed to see and hear by the media). Then imagine that you are him. Remember, you're innocent -- you're not a criminal -- you're an overachiever who's become a target. Your friends...begin to distance themselves...they are being coerced into turning on you, saying things that can be used against you, in context or out of context...you believe that your innocence is obvious and that if the truth were known, there's no way you'd be convicted on such ridiculous charges so you tell anyone and everyone you can, in painstaking detail...and then your words are parsed and used against you...you are to lose your personal fortune, your freedom, your liberty....public opinion is manipulated against you...
just imagine that for a few minutes. It gives perspective.
And what should the innocent do, act guilty, so as not to be thought of as a "criminal or liberal?"
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