Posted on 10/17/2006 2:05:02 PM PDT by aculeus
HOUSTON -- A federal judge Tuesday vacated the conviction of Enron founder Kenneth Lay who died in July, wiping out a jury's verdict that he committed fraud and conspiracy in the months before his company's collapse.
Mr. Lay was convicted of 10 counts of fraud, conspiracy and lying to banks in two separate cases on May 25. Enron's collapse in 2001 wiped out thousands of jobs, more than $60 billion in market value and more than $2 billion in pension plans. Mr. Lay died of heart disease July 5 while vacationing with his wife, Linda, in Aspen, Colo.
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake, in a ruling Tuesday, agreed with Mr. Lay's lawyers that his death required erasing his convictions. (Read the text of the ruling.) They cited a 2004 ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that found that a defendant's death pending appeal extinguished his entire case because he hadn't had a full opportunity to challenge the conviction and the government shouldn't be able to punish a dead defendant or his estate.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Now he can come stop pretending he is dead and come out of hiding.
Yeah, him and Jimmy Hoffa.
Now all of his victims have to prove their cases again in civil court.
Who will they sue in civil court?
I wonder........does this mean if Lynn Stewart dies of breast cancer before her appeal is completed, her guilty verdict will be wiped out too? Too bad, she will most likely never spend a single day in jail.
And the mastermind Andy Fastow gets almost completely off.
Who says you can't take it with you? Or at least stop the Feds from taking it.
He did get 6 years.
"Tuesday's ruling thwarts the government's bid to seek $43.5 million in ill-gotten gains prosecutors allege he pocketed by participating in Enron's fraud. The government could still pursue those gains in civil court, but they would have to compete with other litigants, if any, also pursuing Lay's estate.
"
A real shame because I don't want to see this scumbags family profiting immensly off of his crimes.
Bummer, can't sue a dead man.
try suing the estate....the heirs...anything that a lawyer can latch onto.....make it very tough for the family...that is unless they give up all the ill gotten gains rsulting from this dead piece of shi-ite!!!
Well that sucks.
His wife and her family still have the billions that he transfered to them.
Sounds a little excessive. You have a source?
I'll try to find the source again.
Billions may be an overstatement. Many millions at least.
Fastow was running money through sham companies in the Bahamas and elsewhere.
There was a thread on FR about Enron with links to some interesting websites. I'll try to track them down.
How much is true? Not sure. I do know at least one main individual in this and according to that person Fastow was the mastermind. Actually I think that is agreed upon by almost everybody.
The first one to the DA's office always wins - at least in one game. It makes me wonder what kind of information the terrorist lawyer gave the feds to get such a sweet deal.
Estate of Lay? Do tort claims survive death?
FYI
Today on AOL there is an article entitled: Skilling Asks Judge to Toss Guilty Verdict.
In it they mention that Fastow stole millions of dollars from Enron whereas Lay, Skilling, and others did not. They were convicted of conspiracy and lots of other stuff but not of stealing. (Basically they were convicted because they didn't turn on their colleagues.)
Fastow was the mastermind of the scams and actually stole millions from the company. He gets off because he testified against the others. He and his wife's family still have that money.
The MSM don't want to talk about Fastow getting off because they know the public wants someone to blame.
Tens of millions even, but not billions. Thanks.
Fastow was the mastermind of the scams and actually stole millions from the company.
He didn't do it in a vacuum, they knew what he was doing.
I totally agree.
However, I bet Fastow is out of jail, er his mental health addiction facility, within two years.
It's not who you know it's what you tell the prosecutors.
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