Ken Lay, the CEO of Enron died early this morning, after he was convicted of fraud and conspiracy in the giant energy company's collapse, but before his sentencing.
I wrote about the most recent convictions in the Enron saga in God's Men: Guilty, Guilty, Guilty!
Mr Lay was convicted on six counts of fraud and conspiracy and four counts of bank fraud. Each count carried a maximum sentence of 5 to 10 years, so he faced the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison.
In a way it was a good thing for America that he lived until his conviction, so we could have closure on this sad chapter in American business. And in a way it was good for Ken Lay that he died now, so he didn't have to spend the rest of his life in jail.
Innumerable former Enron employees have not been so lucky and are still trying to simply get by. The Enron whistleblower, Sherron Watkins, has stated that she still can't get a job.
Ken Lay was quoted saying "I firmly believe I'm innocent of the charges against me. We believe that God in fact is in control and indeed he does work all things for good for those who love the Lord."
Ken Lay got to enjoy a lifestyle that few Americans ever get to experience. Much of it was built on fraud and hubris. So we shouldn't feel sorry for him, but for all the people who trusted him and whom he let down. When Sherron Watkins warned him, he looked for a way to fire her. That is the true legacy of Ken Lay.
4 comments:
It's probably not correct, but my suspicion is suicide with a willing accomplice in the coroner's office. He was indeed going to spend the rest of his life in prison unless he managed to live past 90 in prison.
There is no longer any parole in the federal system which if I remember correctly was where he was convicted. Please correct me if I am wrong.
BUT they have 54 days a year off for good time. They have to have some sort of incentive to behave. So with a possible 30 year sentence and the judge was none to pleased with him and the DA was going to press as hard as possible for the longest possible sentence, so even if he behaved himself with a thirty year sentence, with about five years off for good behaviour, he was looking at 25 years, possibly 23 if he took the BOP's DAP program.
That is not an easy sentence for anyone. Especially an old man with a luxurious lifestyle behind him.
I think he did himself in. He did it in Aspen at their vacation home and the coroner was in on it. Dead is dead after all and I am sure he had some sort of life insurance for his wife.
He was not a good man, he was greedy right along with all of his energy buddies like Cheney et al.
I wish no unpleasant death on just about anyone, with the possible exception of Karl Rove and Herr Cheney, but he is no loss to humanity in any way shape or form.
are you sure it wasn't Arianna who killed him? I'd say you should certainly devote the next six months to exposing Arianna's evil role in killing Ken Lay. After all, anybody who finds you insufferable and wants you to go away must be evil, right?
Did you guys see this kid on HP, he posted a blog on baseball. Man those assholes are getting desperate.... using children...
"Bio: Jake Reiner
Jake Reiner is a Los Angeles teenager who has time to share his objective opinions about his favorite Major League Baseball team, The Los Angeles Dodgers. He feels his voice needs to be heard by everyone that is interested in the Dodgers, to go beyond what the newspaper articles say. To clarify, he feels that his perspective really has meaning to the world of America’s Greatest Past Time. He is eager to share to the concerned and confused a little inside as to what should be happening to the L.A. Dodgers. He spends countless hours on the Internet trying to find answers to his beliefs. He looks at statistics, rumors, and articles anywhere he can find them to insure to himself that everything is going to be all right. A lot of the time he believes that the Dodgers are always making mistakes in their moves to what they think is the road to success. He thinks otherwise. Jake will always leave you wanting more, but also maybe feeling that your questions were answered."
A note to RJ on his new typepad site. You can still read him without going to Huffpooh
http://nightlight.typepad.com/
RJ
After Huffpooh's crass treatment of Dr. Rost, I've found my way back to your site, which lead me to HF in the first place. I can't continue to support a site the quickly turned to Rovian tactics to smear a valued blogger who accidently stumbled onto one of Ms Huffington's dirty little secrects.
Even more disappointing is that it seems only one other blogger came to his defense. I was hoping you, as my favorite blogger at HF, would have had something to say, but I do understand that might have put you in an uncomfortable position.
Still, if you don't call the balls and strikes the same for both teams, it's hard to have a fair game. Unethical is unethical, whether being practiced by a coporate pig, a green Peace activist or the god damn Pope.
Regardless, thanks for the site and insights.
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