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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A lawyer for former media baron Conrad Black urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to overturn his fraud conviction, and several justices asked whether the federal law at issue was too vague. The Canadian-born Black, a member of Britain's House of Lords, has been in prison since March 2008, when he began serving a 6 1/2-year sentence for fraud and obstruction of justice. Attorney Miguel Estrada, representing Black and two ex-colleagues who were found guilty of defrauding shareholders of one-time newspaper publishing giant Hollinger International Inc, argued before the Supreme Court that all convictions in the...

The youngest son of jailed former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling has been found dead in his college apartment. John Taylor Skilling, who went by the nickname JT, was just 20 years old. He was a sophomore at Chapman University in Orange, California. Mystery surrounds his death after authorities ruled out foul play or suicide, his father's attorney Daniel Petrocelli said. The Orange County Coroner's office said the death is under investigation. Toxicology results will take four to six weeks. A local TV station reported there was 'no obvious' cause of death. Mr Petrocelli told CNBC that classmates became concerned when...

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Supreme Court found fault Thursday with the federal government's high-profile convictions of Enron's Jeffrey Skilling and former media mogul Conrad Black, rejecting the government's use of a key white-collar crime law on which part of the prosecutions were based. Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling in April 2006. The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday found fault with the federal government's convictions of Enron's Jeffrey Skilling and former media mogul Conrad Black. The justices sent the cases back to two different lower courts to determine whether portions of Messrs. Skilling and Black's convictions should be thrown out. In ruling for...

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Former Enron chief executive Jeff Skilling lost the first half of the fight of his life when a jury convicted him nearly four years ago for committing fraud while at the helm of the once high-flying energy trader. On Monday before the U.S. Supreme Court, lawyers for federal prisoner 29296-179 will take their last shot at shredding a lower court's conviction that sentenced him to 24 years in jail. If Skilling succeeds, his sentence could be shortened or he could win a new trial. The federal government already has a 0-2 Enron record before the high court...

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will take up former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's appeal of his convictions for his role in the collapse of the energy giant, accepting another high-profile challenge to a favorite tool of prosecutors in white-collar and public corruption cases. Skilling's appeal stems from his convictions in 2006 on 19 counts of conspiracy, securities fraud, insider trading and lying to auditors involving the 2001 collapse of Enron. The justices already are entertaining similar claims from former newspaper magnate Conrad Black and a former Alaska lawmaker ensnared in a public corruption scandal. At issue in...

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday ordered ex-Enron chief executive office to report to prison immediately, according to the Houston Chronicle. On Monday, the court said Skilling could remain free while it considers granting him bail, according to court documents. Skilling was scheduled to report to federal prison in Minnesota on Tuesday to begin a 24-year sentence for his role in hiding Enron's financial condition from investors as the company's fortunes eroded prior to its 2001 collapse.

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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...

Lawyers likely to argue that entire case has effectively been voided BARRIE MCKENNA WASHINGTON -- Kenneth Lay's sudden death could prove to be an unexpected legal bequest to Jeffrey Skilling, his co-defendant in the landmark Enron Corp. fraud case. Mr. Skilling's legal team will almost certainly invoke Mr. Lay's demise to try to reverse his own fraud and conspiracy conviction or demand a retrial, legal experts said yesterday. That's because Mr. Lay's death Wednesday of an apparent heart attack effectively voids the entire case against the Enron founder, including the guilty verdict. Mr. Skilling, the former Enron chief executive officer...

The government's forfeiture effort ahead of the planned sentencing of Mr. Lay and Mr. Skilling this fall, however, has been thrown into doubt, at least in relation to Mr. Lay's assets since the death of a criminal defendant before his sentencing and the appeal process may void the criminal case against him. "Technically, he was found guilty, but that's extinguished as of today," said Joel M. Androphy, a prominent defense lawyer in Houston. ..... At issue, too, are Mr. Skilling's obligations to his lawyers. Mr. Petrocelli's law firm, O'Melveny & Myers, is awaiting more than $20 million of payments from...

ENRON'S Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling are about to trade their corporate suites for prison cells. Sometimes the system works. As prosecutors argued and jurors apparently agreed, Enron collapsed -- not because of bad press or market forces beyond executives' control -- but because of criminal choices and "outright lies." In retrospect, it boggles the mind that Lay and Skilling thought their lawyers could talk their way out of a conviction. It was smooth talk, after all, that sealed their fate. Jurors were especially incensed that Lay assured Enron employees that the company's stock was a great buy in 2001,...

 Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were known as visionaries, hands-on executives, corporate titans directing the high-flying ship at Wall Street darling Enron Corp. Add another title: convicted felons. "Certainly we're surprised," a shaken Lay said Thursday after a jury capped a four-month-long fraud and conspiracy trial and in its sixth day of deliberations returned guilty verdicts against him and Skilling. "I think it's more appropriate to say we're shocked. This is not the outcome we expected." Besides all six counts in the main trial, Lay, Enron's founder, also was convicted of four charges of bank fraud and making false statements...

HOUSTON - Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were known as visionaries, hands-on executives, corporate titans directing the high-flying ship at Wall Street darling Enron Corp. Add another title: convicted felons. "Certainly we're surprised," a shaken Lay said Thursday after a jury capped a four-month-long fraud and conspiracy trial and in its sixth day of deliberations returned guilty verdicts against him and Skilling. "I think it's more appropriate to say we're shocked. This is not the outcome we expected." Besides all six counts in the main trial, Lay, Enron's founder, also was convicted of four charges of bank fraud and making...

Once in prison, Lay and Skilling could be living with drug dealers and gang members The elimination of notoriously comfortable "Club Fed" lockups, along with a recent trend of handing out hard time to Enron-related convicts, could mean Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling will share prison space with drug dealers, child pornographers and gang members.White-collar criminals used to be able to count on assignment to minimum-security prisons, known as "Club Feds" because of their cushy conditions — dorm-style living, fewer guards and restrictions — particularly compared with traditional units. But the U.S. Bureau of Prisons has closed four of those...

See for example this thread first. With the conviction of Mr. Lay (of Enron fame) just let me say: He made a killing just like Jeffrey Skilling. In this case I think crime did pay!

Former Enron executives Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling were found guilty today on most counts in their landmark conspiracy and fraud case. In the end, the jury of eight women and four men embraced the testimony of a parade of former Enron executives who said Lay and Skilling lied publicly about the energy company's financial health and condoned, if not actively encouraged, the use of accounting tricks to boost reported profits and hide debt.

May 25, 2006 — The jury in the fraud and conspiracy trial of former Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling has both men guilty of all charges against them. Lay, 64, was convicted on all six counts including conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud. Skilling, 52, was convicted of conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud. Jurors spent six days deliberating after more than three months of testimony from 54 witnesses. Lay faces up to 165 years in prison; Skilling faces up to 275 years in prison. Lay founded Enron in 1985 and was its CEO for more...

Just on the News - Ken Lay convicted on all counts - Skilling convicted on most of the 28 counts against him. Quick jury verdict.

HOUSTON - Former Enron Corp. chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were convicted Thursday of conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud in a case born from one of the biggest business scandals in U.S. history. The verdict put the blame for the demise of what was once the nation's seventh-largest company squarely on its top two executives. It came in the sixth day of deliberations following a trial that lasted nearly four months. Lay was also convicted of bank fraud and making false statements to banks in a separate trial related to his personal banking. The former corporate titans...

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