Fastow gets six-year term
Andrew Fastow, the former Enron finance executive, has been sentenced to six years in prison.
The US energy giant went bankrupt in 2001 with debts of $31.8bn (£18bn)
Enron
Enron Corporation was an energy company based in Houston, Texas.Prior to its bankruptcy in late 2001, Enron employed around 21,000 people and was one of the world’s leading electricity, natural gas, and communications companies, with claimed revenues of $101 billion in 2000. Once the largest buyer and seller of natural gas and electricity in the US, Enron also traded numerous other commodities and provided risk management, project financing, and engineering services. Fortune magazine named Enron America’s Most Innovative Company” for six consecutive years. It became most famous at the end of 2001 when it was revealed that it was sustained mostly by institutionalized
Prosecutors raise Enron boss fine
/0 Comments/in Enron /by ceadminUS Federal prosecutors have raised the amount that former Enron boss Jeffrey Skilling should pay for his part in one of the largest fraud scandals ever.
Prosecutors want Skilling to pay the sum demanded by the court both from him, and from his now-deceased former co-defendant, Ken Lay, Enron’s founder.
They want Skilling to hand over $183m (£96m), the combined sum the two were set to pay, not just his $139m sum
Lay and Skilling guilty
/0 Comments/in Enron /by ceadminFormer Enron bosses Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling have both been found guilty on fraud, conspiracy and other charges.
A spokesman for President George W Bush said the verdict should be seen as a warning to other corporate criminals and applauded the decision.
As the verdict was read Skilling looked down, while Lay sighed heavily and shook his head as his sobbing wife Linda clutched his arm tightly
Enron bosses ‘stole to pump egos’
/0 Comments/in Enron /by ceadminFormer Enron bosses Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling stole from investors both to line their pockets and stroke their egos, their trial has heard.
The comments came from prosecutors presenting their closing arguments at the court in Houston, Texas.
Prosecuting lawyer Kathy Ruemmler said the case centred around “the lies these men told and the choices they made”
Judge deals blow to Enron accused
/0 Comments/in Enron /by ceadminThe judge in the Enron trial has ruled that jurors can find the energy firm’s former bosses guilty of deliberately avoiding knowledge of massive fraud.
The ruling has raised concerns among the defence team and legal experts.
Known as the “ostrich instruction”, because it refers to a person sticking their head in the sand, the ruling means that prosecutors will need a lower burden of proof to be successful
Enron feared witch hunt, Lay says
/0 Comments/in Enron /by ceadminEnron executives thought the firm was the victim of a witch hunt when stories broke about its financial problems, company founder Kenneth Lay has said.
Speaking during his second day in the witness box, Mr Lay reiterated that he thought Enron’s finances were healthy.
Mr Lay has been accused of hiding the losses and lying to boost the company’s share price
Lay ‘devastated’ by Enron failure
/0 Comments/in Enron /by ceadminEnron’s collapse caused more “enduring pain” than the death of a loved one, the energy giant’s founder Kenneth Lay has told a US court.
Mr Lay made the claims as he began his defence against charges of fraud and conspiracy over Enron’s collapse.
He also laid the blame for the energy firm’s failure firmly at the feet of former finance chief Andrew Fastow
Skilling defends Enron share sale
/0 Comments/in Enron /by ceadminFormer Enron boss Jeffrey Skilling has defended his sale of $63m in Enron stock before the company collapsed, saying he has “nothing to hide.”
He insisted the sales, which raised $63m (£35.6m) in 2000 and 2001, were proper and he had no idea an internal probe into Enron’s accounts had begun
Skilling slams Enron prosecutors
/0 Comments/in Enron /by ceadminFormer Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling accused government prosecutors of trying to “rewrite history” during his fourth day on the witness stand.
He said they were misrepresenting Enron’s business and making “absurd” allegations against him.
“I think they have purposely not looked at facts they should have looked at if they wanted to come to a more balanced and accurate conclusion,” Mr Skilling said to questions from his defence lawyer, Daniel Petrocelli
Enron ‘held no cookie jar fund’
/0 Comments/in Enron /by ceadminEnron never used illegal cash reserves to disguise massive trading profits or cover earnings shortfalls, former chief Jeffrey Skilling said on Wednesday.
In his third day on the witness stand at a trial in Houston he testified that there was no “cookie jar” account.
Mr Skilling was denying claims by a former Enron executive that the company earned massive profits from trading power during the California power crisis in 2000 and illegally dumped the money in a “cookie jar” account to cover possible earnings shortfalls in the future