"It's a meaningless phrase you invented"
Meaningless to some perhaps..
Adjective: mass mas
1. Gathered or tending to gather into a mass or whole
- aggregate, aggregated, aggregative
Noun: criminal krim(u)nul or krimin(u)l
1. Someone who has committed (or been legally convicted of) a crime
- felon, crook, outlaw, malefactor
"I wouldn't victimologize myself as a person "affected" by Lay's malfeasance in any significant way"
Our justice system decided differently.
"He lost his good name, his fortune and the stress apparently put him into an early grave"
That's what happens to criminals sometimes. He still did not pay his debt.
"He probably would have preferred 10 years in prison to the coronary"
Then he should have come clean at the beginning and saved himself the stress. Instead, he lied and tried to hide his crimes.
He took his chances and lost the game.
Our justice system, thankfully, punishes people in accordance with the law and not in accordance with how loudly the wronged party complains or how much the media hate the perpetrator.
Lay committed fraud and was convicted of committing fraud.
So, according to the definitions you've supplied, Ken Lay was "a crook who tended to gather into a whole."