Posted on 10/23/2006 2:15:07 PM PDT by Ready4Freddy
Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling was sentenced today to 24 years in prison for his role in the energy company's 2001 collapse in what become one of the nation's biggest corporate scandals.
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake ordered Skilling to home confinement with an ankle bracelet to monitor his movements. He told the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to recommend when Skilling should report to prison and suggested he be sent to the federal facility in Butler, N.C.
"This is not an easy decision,'' Lake said. "Sentencing is the most difficult and least pleasant part of my job Mr. Skilling has a family who loves him.''
He added, however, "His crimes have imposed on hundreds if not thousands, a life sentence of poverty."
Lake's sentence, more precisely 292 months, also ordered Skilling to participate in alcohol and mental health programs. He also approved the forfeiture of $45 million to be distributed to Enron employees.
That money will be distributed via the civil shareholder case going on before U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon.
Defense attorney Daniel Petrocelli argued for a 10-month reduction, so that the 52-year-old Skilling could serve at a lower-security prison. Lake refused.
Skilling's sentencing marks vindication for some and a capstone to an era of corporate crime for others.
Victims of the company's downfall hope it will provide a satisfying coda to their search for justice and retribution.
"I want him to see life without parole, for all the lies he told us and others," said Charles Prestwood, a former Enron pipeline employee who lost his pension.
To others, the timing of Skilling's sentencing, after most of the other large corporate scandals such as WorldCom and Adelphia have played out, brings a tidy end to an era...
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Oh, yeah - I don't think that was right. He lost the big house in HI to his first wife, so it didn't strike me as someplace he would move with the new family.
They had a horse ranch near Fulshear - I'll see what I can find, if maybe their horses are running. Whenever they do those "where are they now?" things here locally, they always say they can't find him.
Here's a song dedication for Lea and Andy, lol:
"Sympathy For the Devil"
Rolling Stones
Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, long year
Stolen many a man's soul and faith
And I was 'round when Jesus Christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
I stuck around St. Petersberg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the Czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank
Held a general's rank
When the Blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
What's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah
I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the Gods they made
I shouted out
"Who killed the Kennedys?"
When after all
It was you and me
Let me please introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadors
Who get killed before they reached Bombay
(Entire lyrics at: http://www.mattsmusicpage.com/rollingstones/lsymp.htm)
Ground Zero of the banking scandal that brought down so many in our area, as well as other parts of the US, was Continental-Illinois. Guess where both Lea and Andy worked at the time.
It wasn't a different bank. Everything went ahead just as it had - that's what made so many people mad.
Only two of their loan guys got axed. Most everything was covered over - Andy and Lea came in right when they were doing those things. In fact, they were hired specifically to set up the very vehicles they later used at Enron.
The shareholder suits hadn't even started yet at that point. The bank was in major CYA posture for another 4-5 years beyond that, as the others in the ring began to fail. I know this, I was in the middle of it, starting with Penn Square Bank in 1982 and on down the line.
Well, can't say as I know any more now than I did when I posted above - but his wife does still have the horse ranch near here. It is all show horses for dressage, not racehorses like I was thinking.
They still have the two ranches for troubled juveniles, as well - one there in Fulshear at their Canaan Ranch and one for boys north of Taos, NM, on the road to Questa. Doesn't tell me exactly where they live, however.
All I ever find are residences in Houston for the ex in Lay's old building and in Sugar Land, where they may or may not live anymore - but never anything in HI or even at the CO ranch they had. Dunno.
Hee hee! *Trust me.*
It wasn't a different bank. Everything went ahead just as it had - that's what made so many people mad.
Geez, Rte66, C-I's problems were well known long before the Fastows started there. To even suggest that they had a hand in the bank's failure is specious at best... unless you're saying that Fastow worked there when he was in high school and early college, and made a lot of bad energy loans for them?
Most everything was covered over - Andy and Lea came in right when they were doing those things.
I didn't say they brought down their own bank - any more than *I* did! I said they learned their craft in a corrupt banking department that had the exact corporate culture as the one replicated at Enron.
What new owners? The FDIC? Lol. Same BofD, same officers, same execs, same everything else.
My jaw just dropped practically in my lap as I read your post.
Both of the Fastow's were at Continental-Illinois when it failed? That was one of the biggest banking failures in the history of the U.S.
And I'm not surprised about the S & L involvement of her family. As you say, lots of people were involved in that.
I've read about her family's grocery store chain, the scandal, and the investigation by the SEC but haven't found a link for it for Ready for Freddie. I read about it, I think on the net, but it could have been elseware.
I know they were all friends of the Bushes, especially Ken Lay so that still doesn't explain the special treatment that the Fastows received.
Maybe the feds wanted to have a couple of big scapegoats and Lea wasn't unlikeable enough. Who can figure.
Both of the Fastow's were at Continental-Illinois when it failed?
Yes, clearly they had nothing to do with the reasons for the C-I failure. The Fastows were still up at Tufts or at Northwestern when it began.
However, they were there at least in the aftermath of the failure. That provided firsthand knowledge of what goes on when an entity fails and the feds are scrutinizing every memo and every signature. They got to see who got blamed and who slithered away. Valuable information.
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