"he was just a thief"
If Mr. Lay was "just a thief", then Adolph Hitler was "just a murderer."
It is the scale of Mr. Lay's thievery that sets him apart. Thousands of lives were affected.. and who knows the full effect this debacle will have in those lives.
He personally walked off, as far as we can tell, with $40M.
That's quite a ripoff.
Thousands of lives were affected
Correct.
Again, he didn't kill anyone.