Supreme Court agrees to review Jeff Skilling's Enron conviction
Filed under: People
Just as we're starting to get some of the worst corporate crooks in recent memory behind bars -- and it looks like at least one infamous con man is starting to mix it up with his new neighbors -- a well-known white collar criminal hopes to win a reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court.The high court has agreed to take the case of Jeffrey Skilling, who was sentenced to 24 years in prison in the epic billion-dollar destruction of Enron, the former energy-trading giant. Along with chairman Kenneth Lay, Skilling was convicted of cooking the books and concocting secret partnerships to deceive the world about the company's dire financial situation. The Supreme Court could overturn Skilling's conviction, resulting in a new trial. Meanwhile, a separate hearing to shorten his 24-year sentence is pending.
In the aftermath of Enron's collapse -- which destroyed $50 billion in shareholder equity and $2 billion in employee pension plans -- Skilling and his colleagues became poster children for corporate misbehavior. Enron's top leaders concealed the company's massive fraud while enriching themselves and leading lavish lifestyles. They came to represent a kind of gun-slinging, Texas bravado gone very wrong.
Skilling, a 55-year-old former McKinsey consulting hotshot, was convicted on charges of conspiracy, securities fraud, insider trading and lying to auditors, and fined $45 million. Throughout his trial, Skilling maintained his innocence.
Skilling's lawyers argue that his conviction was flawed because prosecutors needed to show that he was trying to advance his own interests, rather than Enron's interest. The statute in question covers mail and wire fraud schemes to "deprive another of the intangible right to honest services," according to Bloomberg. The same issue has been raised in the case of former Hollinger honcho and British Lord, Conrad Black, whose appeal the Supreme Court has also agreed to hear.
Skilling's lawyers also argue that pretrial media coverage -- and there was a lot of that -- unfairly prejudiced the Houston jury.
Incredibly, Skilling's lawyers argue that because Enron's collapse caused financial hardship for so many people in Houston, Skilling, who helped cause and conceal Enron's misdeeds, could not receive a fair trial there.
In January, a New Orleans-based federal appeals court upheld Skilling's conviction on a 3-0 vote.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-13-2009 @ 12:43PM
Ray Hodge said...
well if this is what those supreme people wants to do,
then all i can say, they suck big ones
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10-13-2009 @ 12:52PM
panjo said...
Why is any one suprised by this? Republican appointees want to give one of their own a break!!
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10-13-2009 @ 2:13PM
Jim said...
Let the convicted crook and scammer rot in jail.
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10-13-2009 @ 1:16PM
Jim in AR said...
Why would the Supreme Court agree to hear a case like this? There are no conflicting decisions of appeals courts. There is no issue of federal law. There is no Constitutional issue here. The only question is whether this wealthy, politically connected ass hole got what was coming to him. Surely the Court does not take on cases that are this narrow in their scope.
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10-13-2009 @ 2:18PM
Paul said...
We all make mistakes, his was a big mistake, out of the slammer is justice, let the people determine his fate
10-13-2009 @ 1:20PM
robo said...
What is Panjo talking about? What Republicans? Skilling should have gotten 100 years........not 24. His attorneys already said "because Enron's collapse caused financial hardship for so many people in Houston, Skilling, who helped cause and conceal Enron's misdeeds, could not receive a fair trial there."
Hello............did I miss something? His own attorneys think he;s guilty. Problem is the government didn't get alot of the others that got rich at Enron beside Lay, Skilling and a couple others. Send him back to his "country club" for the rest of his sentence and if he keeps whinning, give him another 10 years !!
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10-13-2009 @ 1:25PM
ellieswenson said...
Skilling was one of the main perpetrators of ENRON's deceptive and immoral practices, and he's where he deserves to be--in prison. If his sentence gets overturned by the Supreme Court, that would be a travesty of justice. ENRON robbed it's employees of their life savings, and ridiculed and stole from its customers. ENRON = Greed and Criminality. Too bad the CEO Ken Lay died before justice could be served on him, but perhaps the devil has him now. The devil sure ran ENRON when it was in business. It was the corporation from hell.
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10-13-2009 @ 1:56PM
Analyze This said...
I'm not totally convinced that Jeff Skilling is the primary perpetrator in this scam. I think a lot went on behind his back and by the time he caught wind, it was too late to fix the problem. Too many people had to cover their butts and they made sure a lot of the blame pointed to Skilling! The court should hear his case and consider a lesser sentence.
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10-17-2009 @ 11:59PM
Jim said...
You've got to be kidding. Do you think Ken Harrison the former CEO of Portland General Electric put the idea in his head. I don't think so. Ken Harrison walked away and pocketed approximately with 120 million in this large scam which I believe he was a part of. Let the boys of Enron and the rest of the greedy bastards involved rot.
10-13-2009 @ 1:56PM
smokeyanthony said...
The world has its eyes on the Court. Let's hope they do the just deed.
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10-13-2009 @ 2:02PM
Mike said...
This guy Skilling should be with Madoff for the rest of his life. He owes all the Enron employees, utilities and their customers a BIG rebate. Lock the crook up.
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10-13-2009 @ 2:16PM
BUCKY said...
money sure does talk !
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10-13-2009 @ 2:38PM
David S. said...
Skilling was found guilty, fair and square....just another lying corporate snake trying to pass the buck onto others, pretending to be innocent...I guess jail isn't fun, although the jail they usually put white-collar criminals in resembles a country club....the Supreme Court should have rejected this case.
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10-13-2009 @ 2:44PM
Dan said...
This is crapitalism for you and socialism for the rich, brought to you by Milton Freidman's principals of economics, perpetrated on the serfs by, Geenspan, and now Bernanke. It's called shock economics, making things so bad that the citizens give up their rights and tax dollars so the wealthy can gain more power. Is anybody interested in some tea?
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10-13-2009 @ 2:55PM
jd said...
He's a theif, a liar, a crook, and someone who can pay a $45 million fine and show a profit from his Enron experience! Let the pusihment fit the crime - let the fine excede the amount stolen!! And if anyone beleives that the head of a company that is cooking the books "simply didn't know it was hgoing on" should face a firing squad for bring stupid or thinking, with that lame story that everyone else is!
At $40K a year to keep him in prison - firing squad - $2 a bullet!
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10-13-2009 @ 3:18PM
Mike said...
I'm guessing the writer was being ironic when he said "Incredibly, Skilling's lawyers argue [ ] Skilling [ ] could not receive a fair trial there." That's hardly incredible. I only finished a year of law school and I'd sure as hell make the same argument if I were Skilling's attorney.
,
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10-13-2009 @ 4:46PM
Leslie said...
If he did the crime, he should do the time. He's got nothing better to do in jail but figure out a way to get out.
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10-13-2009 @ 4:30PM
TMT said...
This has to be a total joke ! Good old "W" must be using his influence to do everything for "the RICH" like he did for 8 years as President ! Maybe the dummy thinks this is some kind of Supreme Court Presidential Pardon as if one even exists. Why would the Supreme Court remotely agree to hear this case? Many millions of hard-working, middle class Americans have still not come close to recovering what they lost in their retirement accounts from 2000 to 2002 due to Skillings, Lay, Ebbers, Kozlowski and many other filthy rich corporate thieves and "cronies" of George W. Bush !
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10-13-2009 @ 3:23PM
Dan said...
The spawning of Enron by your government: In June 2000, Senator Gramm, was McCain’s economic advisor, co-sponsored the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, a measure aimed at deregulating certain kinds of futures trading, but not energy futures. That bill never made it to the floor, and thus quietly died. Six months later, on December 15, Gramm curiously turned up as co-sponsor of a bill with the same name, the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which did deregulate energy futures and which, without undergoing the usual committee hearings and preliminary votes, was immediately attached as a rider to an 11,000-page appropriations bill. It passed and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton six days later. Few lawmakers had likely perused the rider carefully, if they even knew it was there. And at any rate, Enron had given to the campaigns of over 200 legislators.
But yet when health care is up for debate, the conservatives are killing it with the help of the heath insurance companies. Or when they want to invade a country, Iraq, its goes through congress without hesitation. It tells you something doesn't it? I mean, even a conservative Republican has to see something wrong with this picture.
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10-13-2009 @ 4:32PM
bob said...
wow, listen to the liberals roar on this one.
so, think this guy should NOT get an appeal, is
that the idea? everybody gets a shot at such
an appeal! in this case it is a genuine legal issue
on the intention of the statute and the elements of the offense. we got taliban and alquaeda getting to the the supreme court, seems fair to me that enron folks get the
same opportunity. seems like even a liberal could
get a grasp on that?
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