Posted on 07/05/2006 8:18:23 AM PDT by GianniV
Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay, who was convicted of helping perpetuate one of the most sprawling business frauds in U.S. history, has died of a heart attack in Colorado. He was 64.
A secretary at his church and another secretary for his lead criminal lawyer, Michael Ramsey, both confirmed the death. Lay, who lived in Houston, frequently vacationed in Colorado.
Lay, who faced life in prison, was scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 23.
Nicknamed "Kenny Boy" by President Bush, Lay led Enron's meteoric rise from a staid natural gas pipeline company formed by a 1985 merger to an energy and trading conglomerate that reached No. 7 on the Fortune 500 in 2000 and claimed $101 billion in annual revenues.
He was convicted May 25 along with former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling of defrauding investors and employees by repeatedly lying about Enron's financial strength in the months before the company plummeted into bankruptcy protection in December 2001. Lay was also convicted in a separate non-jury trial of bank fraud and making false statements to banks, charges related to his personal finances.
Lay had built Enron into a high-profile, widely admired company, the seventh-largest publicly traded in the country. But Enron collapsed after it was revealed the company's finances were based on a web of fraudulent partnerships and schemes, not the profits that it reported to investors and the public.
When Lay and Skilling went on trial in U.S. District Court Jan. 30, it had been expected that Lay, who enjoyed great popularity throughout Houston as chairman of the energy company, might be able to charm the jury. But during his testimony, Lay ended up coming across as irritable and combative.
He also sounded arrogant, defending his extravagant lifestyle, including a $200,000 yacht for wife Linda's birthday party, despite $100 million in personal debt and saying "it was difficult to turn off that lifestyle like a spigot."
Both he and Skilling maintained that there had been no wrongdoing at Enron, and that the company had been brought down by negative publicity that undermined investors' confidence.
His defense didn't help his case with jurors.
"I wanted very badly to believe what they were saying," juror Wendy Vaughan said after the verdicts were announced. "There were places in the testimony I felt their character was questionable."
Lay was born in Tyrone, Mo. and spent his childhood helping his family make ends meet. His father ran a general store and sold stoves until he became a minister. Lay delivered newspapers and mowed lawns to pitch in. He attended the University of Missouri, found his calling in economics, and went to work at Exxon Mobil Corp. predecessor Humble Oil & Refining upon graduation.
He joined the Navy, served his time at the Pentagon, and then served as undersecretary for the Department of the Interior before he returned to business. He became an executive at Florida Gas, then Transco Energy in Houston, and later became CEO of Houston Natural Gas. In 1985, HNG merged with InterNorth in Omaha, Neb. to form Enron, and Lay became chairman and CEO of the combined company the next year.
Hillary called him "ATM".
"Nicknamed "Kenny Boy" by President Bush..."
________
Amazing. But, the Media is not biased!
Scum.
surprised the ap writer didn't mention that john kerry served in Vietnam
Of course we all know that Enron's book cooking began back in the Clinton Administration. With the wonderful influence and acceptance of a Perjuring President, no wonder so many companies were following the Perjurer in Chief's lead. Clinton can lie, so can we.
isn't he Billy's Boy?
Will the DUmmies be happy, or angry that he "cheated prison"?
-Eric
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1660674/posts
Search. It's a function.
Bush's fault.
Since Enron is the altar of liberal proof that capitalism is bad, can we expect a Wellstone-like funeral, now that he's gone?
The bottom line is that a man is dead; he had kids and a wife and one time a mother who held him and thought that he was the best thing that ever happened to her.
Whatever he did in his life is of no measure; he'll be judged by the only judge that matters; I hope he had his affairs in order for that one.
Consider the background of Ken Lay.
Son of a minister, he lived his early life in what may at best be called "genteel poverty".
When he went to University of Missouri, he discovered his calling, economics.
He joined Humble Oil, the predecessor to Exxon. Considering his upbringing, associating with "Humble" seemed to mingle many things, and implied "humility" in his early years.
But the lifestyle soon grew and overtook these beginnings.
Perhaps this untimely death was more in shame, than any decline of health. Or the stress of the shame, and impending incarceration, brought on the heart attack.
In any case, he faces the true Judgment, now.
Meteors rise?
Freepers have identified at lease 23 times Lay went to Clinton for favors. IIRC, Billy Jeff came through around 18 times.
"Lay led Enron's meteoric rise"
"Meteors rise?"
It's a matter of perspective. If the meteor approaches earth from below the horizon, it would appear to "rise" in the sky in its arc as it passed by.
But most meteors simply streak through the sky.
Did they mention Clinton's facilitation of Lay's India deal and Enron?
No...didn't think so.
Any mention of the letters written on behalf of Ken Lay by dizzy tizzy of gin soaked raisin fame?
LOL... or Katrina... Abu Ghraib... Karl Rove or the NSA 'illegal' wiretaps!
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