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Refusing to throw in the towel is not a crime
Thank goodness. Despite the government's sordid expansion of crimes against business people over the past decade, at least it's not a crime to decline to throw in the towel on a business venture simply because there are signs that...
Ellen Podgor on the trial penalty
Stetson College of Law Professor Ellen S. Podgor, who authors the popular White Collar Crime Prof Blog, has written an important law review article on a key issue that is confronting defense attorneys and courts in this age of...
An Enron Task Force-induced nightmare ends
So, the Fifth Circuit followed the instructions of the U.S. Supreme Court and finally directed the U.S. District Court in Houston to dismiss all remaining charges against former Enron Broadband executive, Scott Yeager. The appellate court's order effectively ends...
The Leader of the Mob reacts
You know, it's not every day that a federal appellate court concludes that a newspaper's coverage of a particular event was a major factor in the creation of a presumption of community prejudice. But that's precisely what the Fifth...
The reeling prosecution in the Skilling case
On the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision earlier this year to hear Conrad Black's appeal of his criminal conviction on honest services wire-fraud charges under 18 U.S.C. § 1346 ("Section 1346), the Court yesterday granted former Enron...
The mind of a true thief
Disgraced New York City attorney Marc Dreier's letter to his sentencing judge was quite interesting. His recent 60 Minutes interview is just as fascinating. Dreier -- who unquestionably stole over $400 million -- received a lighter prison sentence than former...
Reflecting on astonishing abuses of power
As Congress contemplates an historic extension of governmental control in regard to health care finance, a couple of stories relating to the growth of unrestrained exercise of governmental power in another area grabbed my attention. First, former Dynegy executive...
Why bother with a trial?
This earlier post noted the troubling indications that R. Allen Stanford and that the federal judiciary to date is doing precious little to check the prosecutorial power of the executive branch as it applies to Stanford. This is not...
The Chronicle's continuing Enron hypocrisy
Being generally an optimistic sort, I keep thinking that the financial crisis of the past year or so will eventually prompt the Houston Chronicle to reconsider its generally biased coverage of the demise of Enron over the past seven...
The thin line of business criminality
In this earlier post regarding former Enron Broadband CFO Kevin Howard's recent plea deal, I predicted that the factual basis for the plea deal would barely describe wrongdoing, much less criminality. Turns out I was right. Check out paragraph...
Chalk up another trial penalty deal
With no valid case against former Enron Broadband CFO Kevin Howard, what was the Department of Justice to do? Rattle the saber of the trial penalty and cut a deal. On one hand, the deal appears to be an...
SCOTUS takes up the honest services issue
Well now, that certainly did not take long, now did it? Just a week after former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling appealed his criminal conviction and monstrous 24-year prison sentence to the U.S. Supreme Court on an allegedly erroneous application...
The state of the Skilling case
The attorneys for former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday, which is quite interesting and is being widely reported in the mainstream media. However, as interesting as...
Permanent Enron myopia
Inasmuch as what took place with regard to Enron earlier in the decade has now happened to much of Wall Street, the vacuity of the Houston Chronicle's coverage of Enron-related matters has become clear. Nevertheless, Chronicle business columnist Loren...
The Chronicle's Enron myopia
Even when it is on the right side of an issue, the Chronicle reminds us of its failings. As noted earlier here, it has become fashionable among the Old Media to support the recent decision of the Justice Department...
The Wavering Rule of Law
So, because of prosecutorial misconduct, the Justice Department decides to move for dismissal of the political corruption case against former Alaska senator Ted Stevens (previous posts here and here). Meanwhile, Jeff Skilling, who created billions of dollars in wealth...
The Journal's curious case of myopia
Bully for the Wall Street Journal for running this editorial last week decrying the prosecutorial misconduct of the Justice Department in obtaining the conviction of former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens on ethics charges (Mike over at the Crime and...
The potential consequences of being tricky
It's rarely pleasant for a businessman to have his personal affairs splashed across the front page of the New York Times business section. But it has to be particularly unsettling for the businessman when he is already the target...
Skilling fires back
As noted earlier here, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel decision in former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's appeal of his criminal conviction was unusual in several respects. For example, even though the three-judge panel reversed Skilling's sentence and...
The criminalization-of-business lottery
The owners of Long Term Capital Management may have been the earliest winners in the most recent era of what Larry Ribstein has coined the criminalization-of-business lottery. On the other hand, Jamie Olis may have been the earliest big...
Another Angry Mob
The Fifth Circuit's decision yesterday reminded us of the angry mob that lynched Jeff Skilling. Now, as this timely Roger Parloff/Fortune article notes, an even larger mob is gathering to lynch the businesspeople who were attempting to save their...
The Fifth Circuit rules in the Skilling appeal
In this current anti-business climate, not many folks were expecting that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals would set aside former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's conviction. On the other hand, not many folks expected this decision, either. In the...
Playing fair
So, now Alaska Senator Ted Stevens is finding out that some federal prosecutors do not play fair (H/T Doug Berman). Of course, we've known that for quite some time down here in Houston. Oh well, at least the mainstream...
Making sense of Madoff
Loren Steffy, the Houston Chronicle's business columnist, has been having a hard time lately. You will recall that Steffy was one of the leaders of the mainstream media lynch mob that embraced the myth of the Greed Narrative in...
A tuna wins a small lottery prize
As a result of the Buffet Rule, the federal government decided to land a bunch of tuna rather than the barracuda in regard to an AIG-General Re finite risk insurance transaction that was not clearly illegal, much less criminal....
Refracting Enron myopia
One of the more entertaining aspects of the current Wall Street financial crisis has been reading how some of the business columnists have been interpreting it. Take, for example, Houston Chronicle business columnist, Loren Steffy. You may remember him...
That other hurricane
So, while the Houston area was enduring a hurricane, the financial markets were enduring one, too. As with Enron and Bear Stearns, the demise of Lehman Brothers reinforces the inherently fragile nature of a trust-based business (related posts here). ...
Cutting the Pai
Former Enron executive Lou Pai's recent settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission confirmed that the Greed Narrative is still embraced by much of mainstream American society. Take, for example, Charles Kuffner's reaction: Reading this story reminds me why...
The latest Enron book
Harvard Business School issued this press release and interview yesterday of Malcolm S. Salter, the Harvard professor who has written the latest book -- Innovation Corrupted: The Origins and Legacy of Enron's Collapse (Harvard University Press) -- in what...
So, what's the difference?
Mel Weiss was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison yesterday for making undisclosed payments to class representatives in class action lawsuits that his firm handled. As noted here about a year ago, Weiss didn't have much of a choice given...
Look at what Mary Flood has been reading
Chronicle legal reporter Mary Flood covered many of the Enron-related criminal trials, so it was only natural for her to pick up a copy of former Enron Task Force prosecutor, law professor and current Oregon attorney general candidate John...
Thoughts for a Sunday
The NY Times' Adam Liptak has penned a couple of interesting articles recently (here and here) on a frequent topic of this blog (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) -- the troubling incarceration rate...
The Wall Street Journal's Enron embarrassment
In anticipation of the oral argument on Wednesday in New Orleans on former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's appeal of his criminal conviction, don't miss this Larry Ribstein post on Wall Street Journal Enron reporter John Emshwiller's tardy realization that...
The Enron Task Force laid bare
In this previous post on former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's Supplemental Brief regarding prosecutorial misconduct in connection with covering up exculpatory evidence contained former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow's interview notes, I noted that the Skilling brief would likely have...
The Economist gets it
Following on recent posts here and here, The Economist produces the best mainstream media article that I've seen to date placing the prosecutorial misconduct of the Enron Task Force toward former Enron executives Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay in...
The stench of prosecutorial abuse
The stench of prosecutorial abuse has long hung over the Enron-related criminal cases. But the extent of that abuse became crystal clear this afternoon when the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's motion to...
More rumblings in the Skilling appeal
This post from last week noted some interesting docket entries in former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's Fifth Circuit appeal of his conviction on criminal charges in connection with the demise of Enron. Now, it looks as if the mainstream media...
The Spitzer Lesson
The mainstream media and the blogosphere have been buzzing over the past 24 hours regarding the fall from grace of New York's governor and former Lord of Regulation, Eliot Spitzer. As noted in this previous post, there is an...
What's going on in the Skilling appeal?
First, thank you to all of the many readers who have communicated their concerns and prayers for the family crisis that is precluding me from daily blogging for now. Your kind thoughts and words are comforting and much appreciated....
Criminalizing Capitalism
If I didn't know better, I'd say that Nicole Gelinas has been reading (H/T Professor Bainbridge) my blog over the past several years: [I]n the end, Sarbanes-Oxley has just made it easier for ambitious government attorneys to criminalize bad business...
Another Enron Task Force alum rings the bell
Fresh off his victory in the Joseph Nacchio trial, former Enron Task Force prosecutor Cliff Stricklin is the latest former Enron Task Force prosecutor to land a cush job at a big firm. Sean Berkowitz and Andrew Weissmann, among other...
The human cost of questionable prosecutions
One of the more discouraging aspects of the societal tide of resentment and scapegoating that has permeated the Enron related criminal prosecutions has been the utter lack of perspective or compassion regarding the horrendous human cost of those prosecutions. We...
The power of myths
A common topic on this blog has been the power of anti-business myths within American society. Take Enron, for example. We all know how the myth played out. Enron, which was one of the largest publicly-owned companies in the U.S.,...
The Fastow notes
The big Enron-related news this week was the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to hear the appeal of the Fifth Circuit's decision to dismiss securities fraud claims against several of Enron's banks (Ted Frank explains the decision). In light of the...
The rotting Enron criminal prosecutions
You won't read about it much in the mainstream media, but the Enron-related criminal prosecutions increasingly smell like a rotting carcass. After Jeff Skilling was lynched by an angry mob, most of the mainstream business media moved on to other...
Behind the scenes in the Skilling appeal and the Nigerian Barge case
I normally throttle down blogging during the holiday season to just one post a day, but I wanted to pass along something that you don't see every day in connection with former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's appeal of his convictions...
Conrad Black faces the trial penalty
Former Hollinger International chairman and CEO Conrad Black (previous posts here) was sentenced on Monday to six and a half years in prison as a result of his conviction on three counts of mail fraud and one count of obstruction...
Hedging the trial penalty
Although some have questioned his business ethics, no one has ever questioned that legendary Houston oilman Oscar Wyatt is good at hedging risk. After Wyatt was sentenced yesterday to a year in prison as a result of his plea deal...
Free the Koz
Dan Ackman provides this cogent WSJ ($) op-ed that calls for the reversal of the convictions of former Tyco International executives Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz: Kozlowski wasn't convicted for overspending, nor for defrauding investors -- the most common charges...
Jamie Olis seeks another chance
A little over a month after I started this blog back in early 2004, former Dynegy executive Jamie Olis was sentenced to over 24 years in prison for allegedly cooking Dynegy's books. That shocking sentence aroused my interest in the...
The NACDL's amicus brief in the Skilling appeal
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers has requested permission from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to be allowed to file a friend of the court brief (you can download a copy here) in the appeal of former Enron...
Oscar Wyatt cops a plea
83 year old Houston oilman Oscar S. Wyatt, Jr. ended an ordeal that could have resulted in a life prison sentence yesterday when he agreed to plead guilty (Chron stories here and here) to one count of conspiracy to commit...
The Skilling Appeal Brief
As Ashby Jones and Peter Henning noted on Friday, lawyers for Jeff Skilling filed his appellant's brief this past Friday along with a motion requesting that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals waive length-of-brief rules under the special circumstances of...
Loren Steffy's Enron myopia
Houston Chronicle business columnist Loren Steffy is a particularly vitriolic critic of former Enron executives Jeff Skilling and the late Ken Lay. Steffy convinced himself early on that Skilling and Lay had lied to investors about Enron, so he made...
Talk about a misleading P.R. campaign
Get a load of this press release (hat tip Ellen Podgor) from the Department of Justice heralding the five year anniversary of the DOJ's Corporate Fraud Task Force. Here is the press release's description of the Task Force's accomplishments in...
The influence of junk evidence on juries
What do the juries in the Conrad Black , Dr. William Hurwitz and the Enron-related criminal trials have in common? In response to the verdict in Lord Black's trial, Professor Bainbridge observed that the result appeared to be a "compromise"...
A risky strategy in the Black trial
Mark Steyn -- who has done a wonderful job blogging the Conrad Black trial -- reports that the case will go to the jury next week after the defense rested this week with Black electing not to testify. The Black's...
Giuliani's hypocrisy
Doug Berman notes that Rudy Giuliani thinks that Scooter Libby got a raw deal. That is unquestionably correct, but what Giuliani failed to mention is that he is one of the politicians primarily responsible for the culture of criminalization that...
The Glisan Interview
Tongues were wagging all over Houston this weekend as a result of Wall Street Journal reporter John Emshwiller's exclusive interview ($) with former Enron treasurer and Andy Fastow confidant, Ben Glisan (excerpts of the interview are here). The theme of...
"Somebody was guilty because they were guilty"
Mary Flood, the Houston Chronicle's lead reporter on the criminal trial of former Enron executives Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay, reports that some of the former Lay-Skilling jurors are now hitting the rubber-chicken circuit: Deliberating the fate of Jeff Skilling...
Stockman's story
Former Reagan Administration budget chief David Stockman is fighting to stay out of prison for the rest of his life as a result of a federal indictment over his stewardship of the defunct auto parts supplier Collins & Aikman. Stockman...
The real presumption in the Conrad Black trial
As I noted many times in regard to the criminal trial against former Enron executives Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay, the real presumption in the case was not the usual presumption that the defendants were innocent until proven guilty. Rather,...
The sad case of Dr. William Hurwitz
For you doctors out there who believe that what happened to Jeff Skilling could never happen to you, take a moment to read the NY Times' John Tierney's chilling opening blog post on the re-trial of Dr. William Hurwitz, the...
The embarrassment that is the Enron Task Force
Remember when the Wall Street Journal characterized the Enron Task Force as having "a good record overall?" Well, the latest development in that "good record" is that the Department of Justice Criminal Division -- the successor to the disassembled Task...
Thinking about the criminalization of business
Given that the governmental onslaught against business interests over the past several years is still a relatively recent occurrence, my sense is that we're still too close to it to be able to place it in the proper perspective. However,...
DOJ throws in the towel on appealing the Fifth Circuit's Nigerian Barge decision
The Chronicle's Kristen Hays reports on the news that was bubbling through the Houston legal community on Thursday afternoon -- the Department of Justice has decided not to mount an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court of the Fifth Circuit...
The price of favorable testimony
In response to my recent lengthy posts (here and here) on the injustice of the conviction and brutal sentencing of former Enron executive Jeff Skilling, many folks who have not followed the Enron criminal cases closely have observed to me...
Reacting to Gladwell's Enron article
It's been a week now since Malcolm Gladwell's New Yorker article on the injustice of the case against Jeff Skilling. One of the more revealing reactions to the article resulted from a question that Gladwell posed in this blog post...
Westar Energy convictions are overturned
In this scathing 43-page decision, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals set aside the convictions of former Westar Energy executives David Wittig and Douglas Lake on every count and ruled that most of the counts could not be retried....
Malcolm Gladwell on Enron
Malcolm Gladwell, he of Tipping Point fame, has authored this must-read New Yorker article on the demise of Enron. Although Gladwell gets a couple of things wrong, his article provides a refreshingly candid and objective view of what happened to...
Uncommon common sense to close out the year
Several items making uncommonly good sense in financial matters caught my eye on the final day of the year. First, Don Boudreaux noticed the following letter to the Financial Times from Larry Ribstein's colleague at the University of Illinois College...
The mob must wait awhile longer
As noted here last week, an angry mob lynched Jeff Skilling. On Monday evening, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals postponed the final stage of the lynching while it considers his motion to remain free pending disposition of Skilling's appeal...
The ordeal of Jamie Olis continues
As noted earlier here, former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling will report to a minimum-security prison in Waseca, Minnesota on Tuesday to begin serving the brutal 24 year sentence that he was assessed on October 23rd. On January 2, former Enron...
The injustice of the Jeff Skilling case
In a few days, unless the Fifth Circuit grants his motion to remain free on bond pending appeal of his conviction, Jeff Skilling will report to prison to begin serving a 24-year prison sentence. The image of Skilling entering that...
Liberty and Justice for all?
The chronically overcrowded and abysmal condition of the Harris County Jail has been a frequent topic on this blog (most recently here), so this Bill Murphy/Houston Chronicle article from over the weekend caught my eye because it concerned the changing...
Another dirty secret of the Enron Task Force
Former Enron chief accountant Richard Causey will be sentenced tomorrow by U.S. District Judge Sim Lake, and Causey's sentencing hearing highlights another of the Enron Task Force's dirty secrets that the mainstream media has largely ignored in favor of demonizing...
The Enron Task Force's extraordinary admission
Flying somewhat beneath the radar screen of the lynch mob that is fascinated with watching former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling imprisoned for the rest of his life is the case of former Enron Broadband executive, Kevin Howard. As you may...
Berkowitz cashes in
So, as Peter Lattman reports, most recent Enron Task Force director Sean Berkowitz is the latest in a long line of former Task Force prosecutors who parleyed prosecuting unpopular Enron executives into a more lucrative career than government work. Berkowitz...
Professor Podgor on the trial penalty
As noted in this prior post, one of the most perverse elements of the government's criminalization of business in the post-Enron era has been the trial penalty -- that is, the substantially longer prison sentences that executives face if they...
The media's mistreatment of Jeff Skilling
As noted here, here, here and several other times on this blog over the past couple of years, the mainstream media's coverage of the Enron-related criminal trials has been spotty at best, shameful at its worst, particularly as it embraced...
What Skilling was really sentenced for
Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling was sentenced on Monday to spend most of the rest of his life in prison for causing Enron's bankruptcy and resulting loss to investors. However, Skilling was neither prosecuted nor convicted for that crime. Skilling...
The Skilling sentencing hearing
Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's sentencing hearing is Monday afternoon, so it's a good time to provide some links that will provide a basis for an objective evaluation of Skilling's case as a counterbalance to what the mainstream media typically...
Fifth Circuit raps the Enron Task Force's knuckles again
This news just in -- the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied the Enron Task Force's petition for en banc review of a Fifth Circuit panel's decision (previous posts here, here and here) that struck down the wire fraud...
The trial penalty issue in the Skilling case
One of the many troubling aspects of the Enron Task Force's prosecution of former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling is the "trial penalty" that Skilling faces in connection with his sentencing (which is next Monday, October 23rd) -- that is, the...
What happened behind closed doors in regard to the Fastow sentence?
As noted earlier here, the six-year prison sentence handed down earlier last month to former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow was surprising on several levels, not the least of which was that the Enron Task Force elicited extensive testimony from Fastow...
Previewing the Skilling appeal
Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling filed a motion for bail pending appeal earlier in the week (download a copy here; Carrie Johnson's WaPo article on the motion is here) and, in so doing, previews the major issues that he will...
More ripples from the Fifth Circuit's Nigerian Barge decision
Amidst the publicity on the Andy Fastow sentence and the upcoming sentencing hearing of Jeff Skilling, the legal wrangling related to the conviction of former Enron Broadband executive Kevin Howard (previous posts here) has been flying somewhat under the radar...
The surprising Fastow sentence
This Kristin Hays-Tom Fowler/Chronicle article picks up on an aspect of the six-year sentence assessed to former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow earlier this week that has largely been ignored in the media but noted earlier here -- the Enron Task...
More on the Fastow sentence
It's a good thing that Andy Fastow's counsel did not mention Fastow's following testimony on March 8 in the Lay-Skilling trial during Fastow's sentencing hearing today in front of U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt: Q. Does the government decide your...
Try to make sense of this
Let's see if I get this straight. On one hand, Andrew Fastow -- who served up his wife as a sacrifical lamb for his embezzlement of millions from Enron that triggered one of the largest bankruptcy cases in U.S. history,...
An interesting letter to Judge Lake
The day before one of the relatively few real Enron criminals is scheduled to be sentenced, an interesting letter to U.S. District Judge Sim Lake became public in regard to the sentencing of former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling. During and...
The Fastow sentencing memorandum
As Jamie Olis awaits his resentencing for working on a transaction for which he did not profit, Andrew Fastow's lawyers (one of whom is Olis' attorney -- small world, isn't it?) filed a sentencing memorandum earlier this week that claims...
Wasting talent
So, a tortured Jeff Skilling is back in the news as a result of being cited for public intoxication while visiting Dallas a week or so ago. While many await with anxious anticipation the imposition of the harsh prison sentence...
Former EES CEO gets 2.5 years in prison
David Delainey, former CEO of Enron Energy Services, was sentenced on Monday to 2 and a half year in the pokey in connection with his plea deal in which he pled guilty to insider trading charges and sang like a...
More rumblings in the Nigerian Barge appeal
In a move that may backfire, the Enron Task Force filed this petition requesting that the entire Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals consider and reject the decision of a Fifth Circuit three-judge panel from last month (previous posts here and...
The Olis market loss hearing
The hearing phase of the re-sentencing of former Dynegy executive Jamie Olis involving the key market loss issue is taking place yesterday and today before U.S. District Judge Sim Lake, and the Chronicle's Tom Fowler files this report on yesterday's...
They never really had a chance
As noted in this post at the conclusion of the Lay-Skilling trial, my sense is that the trial was over before it began because the jury -- particularly its leaders -- was predisposed to convict. According to this Brenda Sandburg/American...
Lay and Skilling's legacy of beneficial risk-taking
During the criminal trial of Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, attorney Paul Fisher and economist Jim Johnston of the Heartland Institute authored this piece (see also here) regarding the unjust prosecution Lay and Skilling that echos a common theme of...
An attempt to withdraw a guilty plea exposes a dirty secret of the Enron criminal cases
As noted in this previous post about the typical mainstream media view toward the Enron criminal prosecutions, most media accounts of the case have perpetuated the myth (see also here) that the Enron Task Force has done a good job...
The real issue in the Grasso case
Eliot Spitzer's long-running propaganda campaign and lawsuit against former New York Stock Exchange chairman and CEO Richard Grasso has been a frequent topic on this blog, so I couldn't help but notice this NY Post article (hat tip to Peter...
The drift of the Nacchio prosecution
This Denver Post article reports on the appointment of former Enron Task Force prosecutor Cliff Stricklin as the lead prosecutor in the Justice Department's criminal case against former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio on insider trading charges. Stricklin was a member...
An Enronesque public scam
This NY Times article reveals a scam that New York AG ("attorney general" or "aspiring governor," take your pick) Eliot Spitzer won't touch with a ten-foot pole: Every year since 1999, New York City has reported that it has all...
The WSJ said what about the Enron Task Force?
The Wall Street Journal has had a spotty record in covering the corporate scandals that emanated from the stock market bubble of the late 1990's, as noted earlier here, here and here in regard to its coverage of the Enron...
Finally, some justice in the Nigerian Barge case
As foreshadowed by this post from last month on the Fifth Circuit's decision to release from prison three of the four former Merrill Lynch executives pending disposition of their appeal in the Enron-related Nigerian Barge case (extensive discussion here), the...
The Lay-Skilling forfeiture motion
In the least surprising post-verdict motion to date, the Washington Post's Carrie Johnson reports that the Enron Task Force filed its forfeiture motion yesterday against former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling. A bookmarked pdf copy of the...
Foreshadowing a key issue in the Lay-Skilling appeal
In a strong indication that he believes that the matter raises important appellate issues, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake issued this this 22-page opinion late last week in the criminal case of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff...
Skilling talks
In his first meaningful public comment since being convicted on 19 criminal charges, former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling agreed to this Wall Street Journal ($)/John Emshwiller interview in which he concedes, among other things, that his decision to testify before...
Rumblings from the jury room of the first Enron Broadband retrial
As noted in this earlier post, U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore's decision to conduct the re-trial of former Enron Broadband executives Kevin Howard and Michael Krautz during the latter stages of the media-saturated Lay-Skilling trial was highly prejudicial to Howard...
Scheduling conference today in the sad case of Jamie Olis
On the heels of the Fifth Circuit ordering the release from prison yesterday of two other business executives who have been subjected to the Justice Department's demonization of business in the post-Enron era, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake will conduct...
Never underestimate what can go on in the jury room
When you put a dozen of so strangers in a jury room together, weird things happen. That's certainly been the case recently in Chicago, where the current big news is that the defense team for former Illinois Governor George Ryan...
The Ken Lay narratives
On several occasions while covering the Lay-Skilling trial, I noted that the Enron Task Force prosecutors were presenting a fundamentally weak case in an effective manner. Quite a few commenters both here and on other blogs took me to task...
A Quick Enron Reality Check?
As expected, the Conglomerate Enron online symposium last week generated over 15 interesting posts, including ones by the reliably insightful Larry Ribstein (see also here), Ellen Podgor, Don Langevoort, Lisa Fairfax, and Thomas Joo. However, one of the final posts...
VE under the Enron microscope
With the announcement yesterday of Houston-based Vinson & Elkins' $30 million settlement of one of the myriad of lawsuits pending against the firm as a result of its representation of Enron, the WSJ's Peter Lattman notes this BusinessWeek Online article...
The Conglomerate Enron Forum
On the heels of last week's jury verdict in the Enron Task Force's legacy case against former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, Gordon Smith, Christine Hurt and the rest of the blawgers over at the Conglomerate are...
Enron Broadband jury splits the baby
The jury in the first re-trial of the Enron Broadband case that ended in a mess of acquittals and a mistrial last year convicted former EBS CFO Kevin Howard (picture on the left) this afternoon on all five counts --...
Lessons from an Enron short
Jim Chanos is a well-known investor and investment advisor who specializes in shorting stocks -- one of his most famous shorting targets was Enron back in 2001. Making money by selling stocks short is most often accomplished through the process...
What might have been
In a development that drips with irony on the heels of last week's jury verdict in the Lay-Skilling trial, Houston-based Kinder Morgan, Inc. announced that its management team -- led by Kinder Morgan CEO and former Enron chief operating officer,...
Lay-Skilling, Week Seventeen
Remember that point made in the previous week summaries about the predisposition of the leaders on the jury determining the outcome of the trial of the corporate criminal case of the decade? Well, in a strong indication that this trial...
Jamie Olis' nightmare continues
The ever-alert Doug Berman notes that, in an expected decision, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied Jamie Olis' appeal of U.S. District Judge Sim Lake's denial of Olis' motion for release pending the Judge's re-sentencing of Olis after...
More on the corporate crime lottery
Amidst an overwhelmingly negative media drumbeat, former Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling await a jury verdict that could send them to prison for most of the rest of their lives. Meanwhile, in Amsterdam, such matters are handled a...
First Enron Broadband re-trial goes to the jury today
Almost ignored amidst the media's unprecedented focus on the Lay-Skilling trial, the first re-trial in the Enron Broadband case will go to the jury today after the prosecution and defense attorneys complete their closing arguments, which are expected to last...
Lay-Skilling, Week Sixteen
Week Sixteen (prior week summaries here) of the corporate criminal case of the decade was closing argument week, and the lawyers used the full 12 hours over two and a half days that U.S. District Judge Sim Lake allocated for...
Lay-Skilling, Week Fifteen
Week 15 of the corporate criminal case of the decade (previous weeks summary posts here) was the relative calm before the final battle of closing arguments next week. Although there was a skirmish over the Ostrich jury instruction, the lull...
Overreacting a bit to the Ostrich instruction
Alexei Barrionuevo, who has done an excellent job covering the Lay-Skilling trial for the NY Times, weighs in today with this article reporting on U.S. District Judge Sim Lake's decision to include in the jury charge an instruction relating to...
Anything for a conviction
As noted here yesterday, the Enron Task Force refused Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling's request to have the prosecution recommend to U.S. District Judge Sim Lake that half-a-dozen former high-level Enron executives who have declined to testify during the trial...
Our Justice Department at work
Yesterday, in the last day of testimony in the criminal trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, the Enron Task Force confirmed in open court that it refuses to grant immunity to half-a-dozen former Enron executives...
Lay-Skilling, Week Fourteen
Week 14 (previous week summaries here) of the corporate criminal case of the decade is in the books and the biggest news is that U.S. District Judge Sim Lake has issued an edict that he does not want the case...
60 Minutes on Colbert
I realize that he may have bombed at the recent White House Correspondents' Association awards dinner, but I'm still a big fan of Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert. Here is the recent 60 Minutes segment on Colbert (segment 2 and segment...
New York's dockside bully
In the movie A Man for All Seasons, Sir Thomas More had the following exchange with King Henry VIII's henchman, Thomas Cromwell, when Cromwell threatened Sir Thomas for relying on his common law right to remain silent regarding the reasons...
First Enron Broadband re-trial begins today
The three-month trial last year of five former Enron Broadband Services (nicknamed "EBS") executives on fraud and insider trading charges ended in a disastrous mix of acquittals and a mistrial for the Enron Task Force. So, this time around, U.S....
OTC.2006
It's not easy finding a hotel room in Houston this week, and the reason is not the influx of media-types for the Lay-Skilling trial. The Offshore Technology Conference -- one of Houston's oldest and largest annual conventions -- begins today...
Lay-Skilling, Week Thirteen
Week Thirteen of the corporate criminal case of the decade (prior weeks posts here) was the Ken Lay week and, based on the media reports, it was alternately either the most boring or the most entertaining week of testimony in...
Explaining corporate agency costs
During the Lay-Skilling trial, the questionable governmental policy of criminalizing corporate agency costs is on full display. In this TCS Daily column, Clear Thinkers favorite Stephen Bainbridge lucidly explains corporate agency costs and why shareholders deserve protection from theft, but...
The real presumption in the Lay-Skilling case
Although the key presumption in the criminal trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling is supposed to be that the men are innocent of the charges levied against them, a far different presumption is turning out...
A potentially Sharp tax on lawyers
Flying somewhat beneath the radar screen of a Houston business community that is preoccupied by the corporate criminal case of the decade is a new proposed state tax on earnings of partners that exceeds $300,000 a year (are you listening,...
Enron point and counterpoint
As former Enron chairman and CEO Ken Lay prepares to take the stand today in Week Thirteen of the corporate criminal case of the decade, I wanted to pass along an interesting exchange of posts from this past week. This...
Lay-Skilling, Week Twelve
The Jeff Skilling segment of the corporate criminal trial of the decade concluded during Week Twelve (prior week summaries are here) as the former Enron CEO testified for a bit over three days on cross-examination from Enron Task Force director...
The brewing political storm involving the NatWest Three
As the testimony of former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling concludes today in a Houston courtroom, a political firestorm is brewing in the United Kingdom over the Enron-related case of the NatWest Three (previous posts here) -- the three former London-based...
The Great Waste
As noted earlier here, I was able to attend the Lay-Skilling trial for several hours on a couple of afternoons this past week. As I watched Jeff Skilling defend himself against criminal charges amidst the overwhelming societal bias that exists...
Lay-Skilling, Week Eleven
Week Eleven of the corporate criminal case of the decade (previous week summaries here) was the Jeff Skilling Week, and the former Enron CEO did not disappoint. In over three and a half days of direct examination (of which I...
Defending Mr. Skilling
As I look forward to sitting in for a couple of hours this afternoon during the direct examination of former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling in Houston federal court, attorney Paul Fisher and former Amoco economist Jim Johnston provide this interesting...
She's everywhere!
On the heels of her cameo at the Lay-Skilling trial, the ubiquitous one -- Houston Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee -- gets more camera time standing next to colleague Cynthia McKinney apologizing about waylaying a Capital Hill police officer. Slampo will...
Lay-Skilling, Week Ten
After only one week of the defense's case and the tenth week of trial (prior week summaries here), it has become clearer than ever that the Enron Task Force's prosecution of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling...
Myths about Martha
In the original version of this Chronicle story (since revised) about Jeff Skilling's upcoming testimony in the Lay-Skilling trial and the importance of witness preparation, Austin-based jury consultant Doug Keene is quoted as making the following observation about Martha Stewart:...
Charting Lay-Skilling
In connection with this NY Times/Alexei Barrionuevo and Kurt Eichenwald article on the upcoming testimony of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, the Times provides this handy chart of the government's core allegations in the trial. The...
Former Westar executives sentenced
Although overshadowed by the Lay-Skilling trial, former Westar Energy, Inc. CEO David Wittig and his corporate right hand man Douglas Lake were sentenced yesterday to 18 and 15 years in prison after being convicted last year of looting the utility...
Lay-Skilling, Week Nine
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake declared "Spring Break" at the conclusion of a short Week Nine of the criminal trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling as the prosecution concluded its case-in-chief and the Lay-Skilling team...
The Convertino case
Clear Thinkers favorite Peter Henning provides this cogent analysis of the important case of Richard Convertino, the former Assistant U.S. Attorney who was indicted yesterday on conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury charges for his part as lead counsel in...
Lay-Skilling, Week Eight
Week Eight (previous week summaries here) of the corporate criminal case of the decade drew to a close on Thursday with former Enron treasurer and Andy Fastow protégé Ben Glisan on the stand and with the Enron Task Force announcing...
The Glisan Deal
When former Enron treasurer and Andy Fastow henchman Ben Glisan cut his plea deal with the Enron Task Force in September, 2003, he did not -- unlike most other Enron plea bargainers -- enter into a cooperation agreement that required...
Did Fastow forge Causey's initials on Global Galactic?
As noted on several occasions previously, the Lay-Skilling trial has settled into a rhythm during the Enron Task Force's case-in-chief in which long stretches of boring testimony regarding rather dry topics is interrupted intermittently with a tidbit that really appears...
More on the risk of going for the cheap score
Remember Kevin Hannon? He is the former Enron Broadband executive whose testimony was the subject of this earlier post on the risk for the Enron Task Force of attempting to score points with the jury by eliciting seemingly helpful testimony...
Lay-Skilling, Week Seven
As the seventh week (earlier week summaries here) of the epic corporate criminal trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling drew to a close, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake gave the lawyers and the jurors an...
The insufferable Sherron Watkins
Yesterday was Sherron Watkins day at the criminal trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, and despite her self-portrayal as a paragon of virtue amidst a cauldron of corruption at Enron, Watkins came off in person...
Where is Waldo?, er, I mean Causey?
The mainstream media covering the criminal trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling continues mostly to miss the point that the prosecution's case over almost seven weeks now has been extraordinarily weak for a case of...
The Enron Task Force's unraveling Nigerian Barge case
Early last week, oral arguments were heard in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on the appeal of the four Merrill Lynch executives who were convicted of wire fraud and conspiracy charges in November 2004 in the trial of the...
Lay-Skilling, Week Six
The Andy Fastow Week of the criminal trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling drew to a quiet close on Thursday afternoon, which contrasted sharply with the crispness of his heavily-scripted direct examination and the combative...
The increasingly bizarre case of Lea Fastow
As expected, the media is all over the well-scripted direct examination of former Enron CFO Andy Fastow, although some media sources are already questioning the credibility of some of Fastow's direct testimony. However, given the breadth of Fastow's direct examination,...
Be careful what you ask on re-direct
As predicted yesterday, the media frenzy over former Enron CFO Andy Fastow's testimony relegated the previous Enron Task Force witness -- former Enron Broadband chief operating officer Kevin Hannon -- to obscurity rather quickly. However, before leaving the stand, the...
The risk of going for the cheap score
Former Enron Broadband chief operating officer Kevin Hannon will finish his testimony today in the trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling. Most likely, with the testimony of former Enron CFO Andy Fastow to follow, Hannon's...
Oral argument today in the Nigerian Barge appeal
Oral argument takes place today at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans in the appeals of Dan Bayly, Robert Furst, James Brown and William Fuhs, the former Merrill Lynch executives who were convicted of wire fraud and...
Lay-Skilling, Week Five
The pace of the Enron Task Force's legacy case against former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling continued to pick up pace during its fifth week (earlier weekly summary posts here), but that quicker pace is highlighting an...
Criminalizing the business reporters
The increasing criminalization of business took an interesting turn earlier this week when the Securities and Exchange Commission's San Francisco office subpoenaed email and other documents from several journalists, including one who works at Dow Jones Newswires, another at MarketWatch.com,...
What is the presumption in the Lay-Skilling trial?
Chronicle business columnist Loren Steffy responds to this weekend post on the high price of asserting innocence and hindsight bias in prosecutions of corporate agency costs by urging us to remember the supposed lies that Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling...
While the price of asserting innocence is high, pleading guilty is lucrative
Alexei Barrionuevo, who has been doing a fine job covering the day-to-day developments in the Lay-Skilling trial for the New York Times, and his Times colleague Kurt Eichenwald -- who has written the best overall book on the Enron scandal,...
Lay-Skilling, Week Four
Long trials tend to settle into a rhythm, and the criminal trial against former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling is no exception. After four weeks of trial, the prosecution has put on three substantive witnesses. Each one...
The wit and wisdom of Sim Lake
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake is widely-considered to be one of the best jurists in Houston, and his no-nonsense handling so far of the criminal trial of former Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling reflects why he is so...
While Sheila Kahanek tells her story, William Fuhs sits in prison
During its four year existence, the Enron Task Force has always been better at bludgeoning plea bargains and villifying former executives in the media than actually obtaining convictions in court. One of the former Enron executives who stood up to...
Lay-Skilling, Week Three
The glacial pace of the criminal trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling quickened this week, as former Enron Broadband CEO Ken Rice finished his testimony after not quite three days on the stand. Although the...
Give me a break
The Chronicle's Mary Flood reports that, upon completion of Mark Koenig's testimony earlier today in the Lay-Skilling trial, Koenig's lawyer released the following statement: "Mark Koenig has completed his testimony, and he will have nothing more to say until this...
"That you didn't really mean it is why we want to use it"
Even though most of the action is in the courtroom during the ongoing trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, a few interesting tidbits still arise from time to time on the docket of the case....
Week Three Lay-Skilling trial schedule
As second week of the criminal trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling comes to a lumbering close, the beginning of the third week will bring a new witness and renewed interest in the trial. My...
Lay-Skilling, Week Two
At the outset of the criminal trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, the Enron Task Force prosecutors estimated that it would take nine weeks to put on its case-in-chief against the defendants. Inasmuch as that...
Omnicon's nuclear waste dump
In addition to maintaining the Wall Street Journal's essential Law Blog, Peter Lattman continues to contribute interesting news articles for the WSJ, including this one from yesterday that he co-authored with Jesse Eisinger about something that is close to the...
The second Lay-Skilling prosecution witness
The NY Times Alexei Barrionuevo, who is writing some of the best background pieces in connection with the criminal trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, profiles former Enron Broadband CEO Ken Rice today, who is...
"You didn't think we really meant that, did you?"
During opening arguments last week in the criminal trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, Lay defense attorney Mike Ramsey made the following observation to the jury about the Enron Task Force's indictment against the two...
Week Two Lay-Skilling trial schedule
After a slumbering close to Week One of the criminal trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, the prosecution will almost certainly attempt to pick up the pace of the trial this week. The prosecution will...
Short selling, Enron and Jamie Olis
Now that title got your attention, didn't it? ;^) Selling stocks short receives a bad rap generally because it generates profits from misfortune -- i.e., when the stock price goes down -- which is counter-intuitive to how most folks believe...
Double whammy for the Great White Hunter
Amidst the hubbub of the Lay-Skilling trial, it's a bit 1980's-esque to harken back to the days of the Savings & Loan debacle. Nevertheless, this interesting DOJ press release caught my eye earlier in the week because it deals with...
Lay-Skilling, Week One
So, week one of the Lay-Skilling trial is in the books. Let's review what we've learned. U.S. District Judge Sim Lake handles matters faster than the prosecutors and the defense attorneys do. Opening arguments are too long. The key evidentiary...
Shoe drops on former AIG and General Re execs
Almost lost amidst the publicity over the first day of testimony in the Enron-related Lay-Skilling trial was the news that a Virginia federal grand jury had issued indictments against former General Re Chief Executive Ronald Ferguson, former General Re Chief...
The long slog begins
Former Enron investor relations chief Mark Koenig led off the prosecution's presentation of evidence yesterday in the criminal trial of his former bosses, Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, and it quickly became clear that the Enron Task Force's boring approach...
Lay-Skilling, Round One
Well, I wasn't able to put other pressing matters aside to attend opening arguments yesterday in the criminal trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, but I did score a transcript yesterday evening and was able...
The logistics of blogging the Lay-Skilling trial
Dwight Silverman is the technology columnist for the Houston Chronicle and is primarily responsible for ushering the local newspaper into the forefront of media and citizen blogging. In this timely post, Dwight outlines the logistics involved in gearing up the...
Speaking of that key evidentiary issue . . .
Peter Lattman posts this interesting piece on the oral argument in the Bernie Ebbers appeal that could well impact the key evidentiary issue in the ongoing trial of former Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling. In the Ebbers appeal,...
Are you ready to rumble?
To the surprise of no one who has ever tried a case before U.S. District Judge Sim Lake, a jury was empaneled yesterday (NY Times article here) in the Enron Task Force's legacy case against former key Enron executives Ken...
The schedule for the trial of the Enron legacy case
9 a.m. today: Jury selection, Ceremonial Courtroom, 11th floor, Bob Casey Federal Courthouse, 515 Rusk. The NY Times' Alexei Barrionuevo and Simon Romero report on the all-important jury selection process, which U.S. District Judge Sim Lake will handle himself and...
The key evidentiary issue in the Lay-Skilling case
The Chronicle's Mary Flood leads today with this timely article on the key evidentiary issue in the upcoming criminal trial of top Enron executives, Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling -- to what extent the prosecution will be able to get...
Lay-Skilling trial is a tough ticket
The Chronicle's Claudia Feldman reports on the logistical challenge of accomodating the overflow of media representatives and spectators during the upcoming trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling. Inasmuch as U.S. District Judge Sim Lake's courtroom...
Are you ready to rumble Enron-style?
As the scheduled Monday commencement of the criminal trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling draws nearer, the Chronicle's Mary Flood -- who has spent more time on the frontlines of Enron-related cases than any other...
The focused Mr. Skilling
Following on this earlier profile, the Chronicle's Mike Tolson provides this extensive profile today of former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling as he gears up for the commencement of the Super Bowl of Enron criminal trials next Monday. Echoing thoughts that...
Emshwiller's Enron surprise
John Emshwiller of the Wall Street Journal ($) weighs in today on the defense strategy of former Enron key executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling for their upcoming criminal trial, and he is surprised to find that Lay and Skilling...
Jeff Skilling, interior designer
Fresh off this informative article on the energy trading industry from over the weekend, the NY Times' Alexei Barrionuevo scores again with this entertaining article on how former Enron chief executive officer Jeff Skilling designed and outfitted his defense team's...
And in this corner . . .
Although not as well-known as John Emshwiller of the Wall Street Journal and Kurt Eichenwald of the NY Times when it comes to covering the Enron scandal, Carrie Johnson of the Washington Post has been doing some of the best...
Missing the point
Chronicle business columnist Loren Steffy has been a harsh critic of Enron and its former key executives, Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling. In their motion to transfer venue of their upcoming criminal trial, Lay and Skilling have used Steffy's past...
More prosecutorial misconduct in the sad case of Jamie Olis
One can only wonder when the mainstream media will pick up on the outrageous conduct of the Justice Department in the sad case of former mid-level Dynegy executive Jamie Olis? First, in a prosecution that probably should never have been...
Successful Enron veterans expose myths
A couple of NY Sunday Times articles reports on the success of a number of former Enron executives. However, in doing so, the Times misses a major point that is sadly lacking in most mainstream media accounts of Enron's demise....
Getting ready to rumble
The Chronicle's Mary Flood reports on one of the final pre-trial hearings before the commencement of the January 30 criminal trial against former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, and while it looks as if U.S. District Judge...
Lay-Skilling trial no lay up for the Enron Task Force
Professors Bainbridge and Ribstein point to this Roger Parloff/Fortune magazine article that does a good job of summarizing the problems that confront the Enron Task Force in making its case against former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling,...
The drift of the Lay-Skilling case
As noted earlier here, the clear drift over the past several weeks of the Enron Task Force's case against former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling has been toward the charges relating to alleged misleading disclosure of material...
Causey still not on Task Force's witness list
The Chronicle's Mary Flood reports that former Enron chief accountant Richard Causey, who pled guilty to a single count of securities fraud last week under an plea deal in which he agreed to serve seven years in prison, is still...
The high price of asserting innocence
Last week, former Enron chief accountant Richard Causey pled guilty to a single count of securities fraud and agreed to a seven-year prison term after vigorously defending himself from multiple charges of business crimes for over two years. Had he...
Jamie Olis resentencing hearing postponed
The long-awaited resentencing hearing in the sad case of Jamie Olis that was scheduled to take place today has been postponed indefinitely to give U.S. District Judge Sim Lake time to review recently-filed materials in the case relating to the...
Is the Task Force gripping in preparation for the Lay-Skilling trial?
An unusually high number of the prospective jury pool for the upcoming trial of former key Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling already have concluded that the two men are guilty of various business crimes merely because of their...
Causey pleads to seven years
As expected, former Enron chief accountant Richard Causey pled guilty Wednesday afternoon to a single count of securities fraud while agreeing to a prison sentence of seven years and a fine of $1.250 million. A bookmarked copy of the plea...
Causey plea deal expected today
The Chronicle, the Wall Street Journal ($), the NY Times and the Washington Post began reporting last night that former Enron chief accountant Richard Causey will enter into a plea bargain with the Enron Task Force this afternoon in Houston...
Thinking about the WSJ's Enron conflict of interest
The Chronicle's Loren Steffy thinks I'm stretching a bit in noting the conflict of interest that the Wall Street Journal has apparently decided to overlook in allowing John Emshwiller to report on the upcoming trial of the Enron Task Force's...
The Wall Street Journal's Enron conflict of interest
The Wall Street Journal's ($) John Emshwiller reports that former Enron chief accountant Richard Causey is currently negotiating with Task Force prosecutors regarding a possible plea bargain under which he would testify against his former bosses, Ken Lay and Jeff...
Fastow: "What do you mean 'tax fraud?'"
This earlier post noted that Lea Fastow -- a former mid-level Enron executive and wife of demonized former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow -- was prosecuted more harshly than normal for tax fraud because of her relationship to Fastow and endured...
More Enron indictments on the way?
As anticipated in this earlier post, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake concluded in a hearing yesterday that the defense team of former key Enron executives Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling and Richard Causey had not established in his mind that prosecutorial...
How does the Enron Task Force really feel about Arthur Andersen?
This earlier post noted the 180 that the Enron Task Force has recently taken in regard to defunct accounting firm Arthur Andersen. After demonizing the firm, gutting it with a misguided prosecution, and alleging that a number of the firm's...
USA Today scoops the majors in analyzing the Enron Task Force's legacy case
Is it just me or does anyone else find it odd that this USA Today article is doing a better job of covering the prosecutorial abuse that is taking place in the Enron-related criminal cases than supposedly more thorough national...
NY Times on the sad case of Dan Bayly
Landon Thomas, Jr. of the New York Times has written this major Sunday Times article about the sad case of Daniel Bayly, the former head of Merrill Lynch's global investment banking division who is presently serving a two and a...
Lay-Skilling-Causey witness intimidation allegations scheduled for hearing
This Mary Flood/Chronicle article reports that U.S. District Judge Sim Lake has scheduled a hearing in the Enron Task Force's legacy case against former key Enron executives Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling and Richard Causey over the defendants' allegations that the...
Where it first does not succeed, the Enron Task Force tries, tries again
The Chronicle's Mary Flood reports in this article that the Enron Task Force has obtained three "streamlined" indictments against the five former Enron Broadband executives who were the subject of the previous failed Task Force prosecution over the same subject...
Signs of desperation at the Enron Task Force?
Already having engaged in intimidation of witnesses and dubious plea-bargaining tactics, the Enron Task Force is showing signs of becoming desperate regarding its legacy case. As noted in this post from earlier in the week, the Enron Task Force has...
Piling on Arthur Andersen
It's looking as if the Texas State Board of Accountancy needs to catch up with the government's investigation into Enron. In this Chronicle article, John Roper and Purva Patel report that the Texas state accounting board is seeking disciplinary action...
Thinking about the Enron legacy case
It is currently the calm before the storm that will be the trial of the legacy case of the Enron Task Force -- that is, the criminal trial of former Enron executives Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and Richard Causey that...
Enron cases are simply different
It is standard operating procedure in white collar criminal cases for the defense attorney to advise the defendant not to make public statements prior to trial so as not to risk making a statement that the prosecution could discover and...
Finessing witness intimidation
When Don Corleone wanted to intimidate someone, he would "make them an offer that they could not refuse." Taking a page from the Don's book, when the Enron Task Force wants to intimidate a favorable defense witness from testifying in...
More on criminalizing risk-taking
Robert Weisberg is Edwin E. Huddleson, Jr. Professor of Law and director of the Criminal Justice Center at Stanford University, where he teaches a course on white collar crime with David Mills, who is a senior lecturer there. In this...
Is this all the better that the WSJ can do?
I recognize the Wall Street Journal's John R. Emshwiller has already cashed in on the Enron saga. But even that reason for wanting to move on to something else cannot explain this tepid ($) article on the prosecutorial misconduct that...
A Judge challenges the Enron Task Force's bludgeoning of a plea bargain
A frequent topic on this blog has been the unjust nature of the government's questionable tactic of bludgeoning business executives into plea bargains by playing on the executive's fear of a draconian prison sentence (often an effective life sentence) if...
2006 -- The Enron Trial Year
Over four years after Enron's descent into bankruptcy, 2006 is shaping up as the year of the Enron criminal trials. First, in mid-January, the trial of the Enron Task Force's legacy Enron case -- i.e., the trial that everyone will...
Woody Hayes' advice to defense counsel in the Enron cases
Peter Henning over at the White Collar Criminal Prof Blog is skeptical that U.S. District Judge Sim Lake's letter-writing campaign is going to induce any of the recalcitrant witnesses in the criminal case against former Enron executives Ken Lay, Jeff...
Judge Lake's letter-writing campaign
In a hearing yesterday afternoon in Houston federal court, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake continued to grapple with strong evidence that the Enron Task Force has engaged in a systematic campaign of intimidating witnesses in the upcoming trial of former...
The Lay-Skilling-Causey motion to dismiss
As noted in earlier posts here and here, the longstanding suspicions that the Enron Task Force has been engaging in witness tampering in the Enron-related criminal cases is now in full public view. This Mary Flood article reports on the...
Judge examining Lay-Skilling witness tampering charges
Following on this post from earlier this summer, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake gave his strongest indication to date that he is prepared to take action against the Enron Task Force's strategy to deny former Enron chairman Ken Lay, former...
The Enron Task Force attempts to muzzle Sherron Watkins
When the Task Force fingered the record number of 114 co-conspirators in their legacy case against former Enron chairman Ken Lay, former CEO Jeff Skilling and former chief accountant Richard Causey, the Task Force effectively ensured that most defense witnesses...
The Merrill Lynch defendants appeal in the Nigerian Barge case - criminalization of business run amok
The Enron-related Nigerian Barge case has been a frequent topic on this blog as a prime example of the Justice Department's dubious criminalization of common business practices in the post-Enron era. As a result of that questionable policy, four former...
The Chron interviews outgoing Enron Task Force Director
The Chronicle's Mary Flood, who has done a fine job of covering the Enron case for the local newspaper, interviews Andrew Weissmann, the former Enron Task Force director who resigned as director of the Task Force this past week amidst...
How to avoid an Enronesque experience
This earlier post that compares American International Group, Inc.'s business model to that of Enron Corp. makes an important point about the true reason that Enron collapsed. The general public's perception -- fueled by the Enron Task Force and most...
A crushing defeat for the Enron Task Force
In yet another stunning blow in a series of setbacks to the Enron Task Force, the jury in the Enron Broadband trial returned late this afternoon and advised U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore that they had acquitted three of the...
Weissman steps down as Enron Task Force chief
In a development that is intriguing by its timing, Andrew Weissmann is resigning as director of the Justice Department's Enron Task Force, reportedly to enter private practice, although that report has not been confirmed. Another Task Force prosecutor -- Sean...
Another Enron plea bargain
On the day that the jury in the Enron Broadband trial began deliberations, the Enron Task Force announced that Christopher Calger, a former executive with Enron North America, had pleaded guilty to a criminal conspiracy count and agreed to cooperate...
The end is in sight in the Enron Broadband trial
After three often tortuous months, the end is finally in sight for the Enron Broadband trial, the Chronicle's Mary Flood reports today. The last of the five defendants to testify -- former Enron Broadband Services CFO, Kevin Howard -- took...
Is the prosecution engaging in witness tampering in the Skilling - Lay criminal case?
I was at the Federal Courthouse yesterday for a late morning hearing and decided to stick around and pop into an early afternoon status conference in the government's biggest Enron-related criminal case -- that is, the case against former Enron...
Meanwhile, checking in on the Enron Broadband trial
With the Scrushy trial out of the way, those interested in the criminalization of business are now focusing on the Enron Broadband trial, which is slogging through its eleventh week. Houston Chronicle Enron reporter Mary Flood battles through the chloroforming...
A foul odor emanates from the Enron Broadband trial
Following on the heels of this post from yesterday, the slumbering Enron Broadband trial was jolted Friday as Lawrence Ciscon -- a former Enron Broadband systems engineer who the Enron Task Force has fingered as a target of its ongoing...
When "Justice" destroys good reputations
The Sihpol acquittal yesterday focuses attention on an important aspect of the current wave of criminalizing merely questionable business transactions -- that is, the government's destruction of good reputations in its quest to obtain convictions and prevent juries from hearing...
Couldn't you arrange for some false testimony or something?
After last week's fireworks in the ongoing Enron Broadband criminal trial noted here and here, the Chronicle's Mary Flood reports that the attorneys in the trial have reverted to the dubious tactic of chloroforming the jury with mind-numbing techno-jargon: On...
"You guys scare me to death"
Following this development from Monday, the Enron Task Force prosecution is now clearly in serious damage control mode in the ongoing criminal trial against five former Enron Broadband Services executives in Houston federal court. As this Mary Flood Houston Chronicle...
Did Skilling violate the Rule?
In what appears to be a questionable ruling, former Enron CEO and COO Jeff Skilling was required to leave the courtroom on Friday morning during the ongoing trial of the Enron Broadband trial. Normally, at the commencement of most trials,...
Lay's team heaves a sigh of relief
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake ruled Thursday afternoon that bank-fraud charges against Enron former chairman and CEO Ken Lay would be tried to him without a jury early next year immediately following the multi-defendant conspiracy jury trial against Mr. Lay,...
The Enron Broadband Trial
Almost three and a half years after Enron collapsed into bankruptcy, the first criminal trial involving exclusively former Enron executives will crank up in front of U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore in Houston federal court on Monday. Here is the...
Lay's response to government's quick trial request
The gamesmanship continues in the battle between the Enron Task Force and former Enron chairman and CEO Ken Lay over when and how to handle the trial of the government's bank fraud charges against Mr. Lay. Prior posts on this...
Lawyers, bring your schedules
Coming on the heels of this earlier post on the Enron Task Force's use of Ken Lay's prior public statements to move for an early trial on the pending bank fraud charges pending against him, Mary Flood of the Chronicle...
The Enron law of unintended consequences
Remember that motion that former Enron chairman and CEO Ken Lay filed last fall in which he requested a separate trial from his Enron co-defendants Jeff Skilling and Richard Causey? You know, the one in which U.S. District Judge Sim...
Well, at least it's playing close by
The Chron's Mary Flood reports today that the documentary Enron, The Smartests Guys in the Room (earlier post here) will open in Houston on April 20 at the River Oaks Theatre, just down the street from where Ken Lay, Jeff...
The "honest idiot" defense fails
Bernie Ebbers' honest idiot defense fails as he is convicted on all counts. The conviction is further bad news for former Enron chairman Ken Lay and former CEO Jeff Skilling who are claiming -- as did Mr. Ebbers -- that...
First excerpt from "Conspiracy of Fools"
This NY Sunday Times article provides the first excerpt from Kurt Eichenwald's new book about the collapse of Enron Corp. -- Conspiracy of Fools -- that was the subject of this earlier post. The entire excerpt is well worth reading,...
Lay-Skilling criminal trial will start in January 2006
Mary Flood of the Houston Chronicle is reporting that U.S. District Judge Sim Lake has scheduled the criminal trial of former Enron chairman Ken Lay, former CEO Jeff Skilling, and former head accountant Richard Causey to begin on January 17,...
The same old Enron story
Following on this earlier post regarding the new Enron documentary Smartest Guys in the Room, the Houston Press' Joe Leydon is breathless in praising the documentary: Please don't misunderstand: Alex Gibney has no great beef with capitalism. Indeed, many of...
Least surprising motion of 2004 denied
U.S. District Court Sim Lake (picture here) today issued an order denying former Enron Corp. CEO and COO Jeffrey Skilling, former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay and former Enron Chief Accounting Officer Richard Causey's motion to transfer venue of their upcoming...
Enron outside directors settlement
On the heels of this post earlier this week about the impending outside directors' settlement in the WorldCom case, this NY Times article reports on the impending $168 million settlement involving the class action securities fraud and related claims against...
That's one helluva conspiracy
The Enron-related criminal cases just seem to get more bizarre by the day. This Chronicle article reports that the Enron Task Force has named 114 unindicted co-conspirators in the Task Force's criminal case against former Enron executives Ken Lay, Jeffrey...
Enron Task Force targets Linda Lay
Enron Task Force prosecutors are investigating whether Linda Lay, the wife of Enron's former Chairman and CEO, Kenneth L. Lay, engaged in illegal insider trading by selling Enron stock days before Enron filed its chapter 11 case on December 2,...
The least surprising motion of the year
In an expected move, former Enron Corp. CEO and COO Jeffrey Skilling, former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay and former Chief Accounting Officer Richard Causey filed a motion Monday stating that Phoenix, Denver or Atlanta would be fairer places in which...
Lay's bid for a separate trial backfires
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake >ruled unexpectedly on Tuesday that former Enron Chairman and CEO Ken Lay will face two separate criminal trials -- one with former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling and former chief Enron accountant Richard Causey, and another...
Checking in again on the Nigerian Barge trial
I was in federal court yesterday, so I had occasion to drop in again (here is my earlier report on the trial) on the ongoing Enron-related Nigerian Barge trial, which was concluding its third week. The prosecution's second star witness...
Are you ready to rumble? -- First Enron criminal trial begins Monday
After three years from Enron Corp.'s demise into bankruptcy, dozens of indictments and plea bargains, and an unprecendented government and media campaign to demonize former Enron executives, the first criminal trial against former Enron executives will begin Monday in Houston...
Ken Lay's Washington Post op-ed
In this Washington Post op-ed, former Enron chairman and chief executive officer Kenneth Lay makes the following disclosure and asks a very reasonable question: At my request, my lawyers have filed motions in federal court asking for an immediate and...
The Enron noose tightens
The Government's noose around neck of Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay got a bit tighter today as Kevin P. Hannon, former chief operating officer of Enron Corp.'s heavily promoted telecommunications unit, became the latest former Enron executive to plead guilty...
Another Enron plea deal
Mark Koenig, the former head of Enron's investor relations section, agreed to a plea bargain today with the Enron Task Force in regard to newly-filed criminal charges against him, and agreed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to pay civil...
Skilling and Causey request separate trials
As expected, former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling and chief accountant Richard Causey filed motions with the U.S. District Court in Houston Friday requesting that their pending criminal case be severed for separate trials. Their motions mirrored a similar motion that...
Enron cases are different
You know that the criminal cases related to the demise of Enron Corp. are a different breed of cat when articles such as this appear in the Houston Chronicle explaining what former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay and former Enron CEO...
Update on the sad case of Jamie Olis
David Gerger, appellate counsel for former Dynegy finance employee Jamie Olis filed Mr. Olis' appellant's brief with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals this week in which Mr. Gerger contends that Mr. Olis' conviction and 24-year prison sentence should be...
The importance of good timing in going bust
This NY Times article provides a fine report on the demise of Global Crossing, Ltd., the telecommunications company that went down under suspicious circumstances at the same time as Enron Corp. was cratering. However, unlike Enron, the Justice Department established...
Lay's proposed September trial date denied
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake denied former Enron Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay's motion for a September trial date during a hearing on Wednesday, but agreed that Lay was entitled to a quick trial. Judge Lake did not set a...
Ken Lay presses for a speedy trial
In an astounding move in a case of nearly unprecedented negative publicity, Ex-Enron Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay requested U.S. District Judge Sim Lake today to grant a speedy trial -- even possibly waving a jury trial to get it...
Enron Broadband defendant pleads guilty
Ken Rice, the former head of Enron’s broadband Internet business, became the 11th person to plead guilty to an Enron-related crime when he admitted to a single count of securities fraud this morning before U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore in...
Enron Task Force PR staff fights back
The unusual nature of Ken Lay's somewhat desperate public relations campaign in connection with the criminal charges that are pending against him has been noted earlier here, here, and here. Not to be outdone, the Enron Task Force pumped its...
Lay PR campaign continues
According to this Houston Chronicle article, Ken Lay's criminal defense attorney, Mike Ramsey, is apparenly not happy that Enron Task Force lawyers had sent letters to U.S. District Judge Sim Lake in late May and mid-June indicating that they were...
Ken Lay's insider trading
One of the most interesting aspects of the government's indictment against former Enron Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay is that it does not includes any insider trading charges. On the other hand, the SEC's civil complaint against Mr. Lay includes...
More on the sad case of Jamie Olis
This LA Times article is the best analysis that I have seen to date regarding what occurred in the sad case of former mid-level Dynegy accountant Jamie Olis that resulted in the absurd 24 year sentence for Mr. Olis. In...
Update on Lay indictment
It looked like a video campsite outside the Federal Courthouse in Houston on Thursday as the media gathered to observe the spectacle of former Enron Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay being led into the courthouse in handcuffs. Mr. Lay pled...
Ken Lay indicted
A Houston federal grand jury has charged former Enron Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay with an unknown number of crimes today under a sealed indictment. The indictment will be unsealed in a hearing tomorrow morning, at which time Mr. Lay...
Well, this is an interesting approach
Mike Ramsey, the Houston-based criminal defense attorney who is representing former Enron CEO and Chairman Ken Lay, has requested another meeting with the Enron Task Force to plead his case that Mr. Lay should not be indicted. Ramsey's move in...
Enron Task Force moving on Ken Lay
This Houston Chronicle story reports that the Enron Task Force plans to ask a grand jury to indict in the next two weeks Ken Lay on charges relating to the last few months he was CEO of Enron before the...
Skilling gets some scratch
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake approved an agreed order that allows ex-Enron CEO Jeff Skilling to receive what could be approximately $1 million in annual interest earnings off a portion of the $66 million in assets that Judge Lake froze...
Another former Enron exec cops a plea
This Chronicle story reports on today's plea bargain and settlement involving Paula Rieker, the former Enron managing director of investor relations. Under the deal, Ms. Rieker will turn over to the SEC nearly half a million dollars she made off...
Partial settlement in Enron employee class action
This NY Times article reports on the $85 million partial settlement that has been in the works for quite some time in the Tittle class action lawsuit involving claims of former Enron employees who lost their shares in their 401K...
Skilling gets mild slap for his New York adventure
U.S. Magistrate Frances Stacy told ex-Enron CEO Jeff Skilling this afternoon that he must quit drinking alcohol, get both alcohol and mental health treatment, be subject to a curfew and get a job or do volunteer work in order to...
Another Enron-related plea bargain
The SEC and the Enron Criminal Task Force are preparing to bring civil and criminal charges -- along with a plea bargain and a settlement -- against Paula Rieker, the former corporate secretary and investor-relations executive of Enron Corp. Government...
More on Skilling's New York Adventure
As noted earlier here, the Enron Task Force has requested that the Court in its criminal case against former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling impose additional conditions on Skilling's pre-trial release because of Skilling's well-publicized bender in New York City on...
Skilling's New York adventure comes under scrutiny
The bizarre tale of former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's hospitalization in New York a couple of weeks ago took another twist as the Enron Task Force filed pleadings in the pending criminal case against Skilling today contending that Skilling's conduct...
Jeff Skilling's New York adventure
Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling was taken to a hospital early today after several people called police saying he was pulling on their clothes and accusing them of being FBI agents. New York police found Skilling at 4 a.m. at...
O.K., but no golf bets
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake has released less than $225,000 of former Enron chief accountant Richard Causey's money that is subject to the court's previous order freezing substantially all of Mr. Causey's assets and $55 million of former Enron CEO...
Opinion continuing freeze on Skilling assets
Following on this post from yesterday, here is U.S. District Judge Sim Lake's opinion continuing the freeze on former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's assets pending further order of the Court in Skilling's criminal case. Essentially, Judge Lake rules that the...
Skilling assets remain frozen
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake refused today to lift a freeze order that the Enron Task Force had obtained on $55 million of former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's assets pending further order of Judge Lake. I will be interested to...
The cost of Skilling's defense
The Chronicle leads with a misleading headline today regarding the $23 million that former Enron CEO and COO Jeff Skilling has set aside to pay the cost of his defense in Enron-related matters. The Chronicle article suggests that the $23...
The Ten Most Influential Businessmen of All-Time
The BusinessPundit points us to this Forbes article that lists Northwestern University economics history professor Joel Mokyr's (editor in chief of the "Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History") ten most influential businessmen of all-time. Neither Ken Lay nor Jeff Skilling made...
Skilling scheduling conference and other Enron-related news
The scheduling conference was held today in former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's criminal case, and it doesn't sound as if it went all that well for the Enron Task Force. Federal District Judge Sim Lake agreed with the Skilling defense...
The similiarities between Enron and U.S. Govt. financing
A substantial part of the Justice Department's criminal cases against former Enron executives Jeff Skilling and Richard Causey involves their complicity in Enron's liberal use of "off-balance sheet" partnerships that Enron used to shift risk on debt that otherwise would...
Skilling's friends and family
This Houston Chronicle article relates ex-Enron CEO and COO Jeff Skilling's inadvertent meeting at the Houston Federal Courthouse this past Thursday with ex-Enron treasurer Ben Glisan, who was ex-Enron CFO Andrew Fastow's right hand man during the final year and...
Skilling Indictment Overdrive
All the major newspapers have multiple articles on yesterday's indictment of former Enron CEO and COO, Jeff Skilling. The best are The Houston Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal ($), and The New York Times. As mentioned in earlier posts, I...
Update on Skilling Indictment
Here is the indictment against ex-Enron CEO Jeff Skilling, which also serves as a supeceding indictment against former Enron chief accountant, Richard Causey. As noted earlier in an earlier post, the indictment continues a government strategy in the Enron-related criminal...
Skilling Indicted
The Chronicle is reporting that the Houston federal grand jury investigating the demise of Enron Corp. indicted Jeff Skilling, Enron's former CEO, this afternoon. Mr. Skilling surrendered to the FBI to the FBI in Houston early Thursday. Earlier posts regarding...
Skilling Conviction no tap in
The Houston Chronicle leads with a story today that the long expected indictment of former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling this week does not mean that the government will have an easy time convicting Mr. Skilling of a crime. The same...
More on Impending Skilling Indictment
The NY Times follows yesterday's Houston Chronicle report with this article on the impending indictment of former Enron CEO, Jeff Skilling. Mr. Skilling and former Enron Chairman Ken Lay are the two highest ranking former Enron officers who have not...
Enron Task Force Focusing on Skilling
The Houston Chronicle reports today that the Enron Task Force is close to indicting Jeff Skilling, the former CEO of Enron, possibly as early as next week. The recent plea bargain of former Enron CFO and Skilling protege Andrew Fastow,...
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