The good news for Ken Lay is that he’s now off the hook on all those fraud and conspiracy charges related to the collapse of Enron.
The bad news, of course, is that he’s dead.
A federal judge agreed with Lay’s lawyers Tuesday that the ex-tycoon’s unfortunate demise — while on summer vacation in Aspen — requires that his convictions be erased.
Which amounts to bad news for Enron ex-employees and investors: The ruling means the government can’t try to recover the $43.5 million Lay looted from the company.
It’s also another blot on Congress, which recessed without acting on a last-ditch Justice Department proposal that would have changed the law to let prosecutors go after Lay’s assets.
Posted by Dave Knadler
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17 Comments
I only have one word here.
Paraguay
While the outcome in this case leaves a bad taste in everyone’s (almost everyone’s?) mouth, the judge made the correct ruling. BTW, don’t just blame the Congress; it seems to me the Justice Department was a bit slow in seeking a statutory change.
I say the latter not because I believe there was a big conspiracy to make sure no one received compensation, but in a matter such as Enron, with older defendants, death of a defendant cannot be unforseeable. The legal principle of abatement is not unknown, as was demonstrated by the link in the initiatory post; thus, the Justice Department could have begun its efforts to change the law a few years ago, rather than waiting until after Mr. Lay’s conviction, Perhaps it did, but I cannot find any evidence supporting this.
According to ancient Celtic belief, debts could be carried over into the afterlife. There are an awful lot of people who, at least in this case, hope that’s true!
No need for comment from me, the title of the starter blog says it all.
Yeah, but they still found him guilty.
I’m pretty sure he’s on some tropical island too. ….with Elvis….and space aliens!!! President Bush and them are planning their next attack on American soil! Yeah, that’s it!
One more time, Big Business wins and the little guy gets screwed.
Perhaps not, sunny; there will be litigation against the various investment banking firms involved with Enron, the pockets of which are very deep.
Maybe they should put all these dudes in special plastic bubbles until everybody gets paid. Or here’s an idea, jail. Had he been quietly tossing salads in a 6×8 rather than running around Aspen with a heart condition, this never would’ve happened.
The Enron Task Force didn’t really sniff out the REAL crook. Sure they got Fastow to plead on 2 of the 98 counts, but the whole thing unraveled because of the greed, incompetence, and criminal activity of Fastow and his side kick Kopper. Sure the board signed off on the ‘conflict of interest’ when they shouldn’t have with Fastow and the SPEs – but the CRIMINAL activity was squarely with Fastow and Kopper. IMHO, all the other big-wigs are guilty of greed and incompetence, but shouldn’t have not been found guilty of criminal activity. At least Lay’s heirs aren’t a victim of the Task Force’s tunnel vision.
I’m wondering who is really burried is lays grave, or did they have a convenient cremation? Don’t put anything past the Bush Boys.
Do you honestly believe that Ken Lay did not know what was going on in his own company? The man was not stupid. At least with his death, his lovely wife will now get to keep all their millions and not have to worry – right?
At first, when I read this article, I got very upset, and then I got introspective. If I was diagnosed with a terminal illness I should go and rob and kill rich people.
After all, as long as I die before I’m sentenced I can keep my ill-gotten gains in my estate and give that to my kids.
A mental image of painting a bull’s-eye on every rich person entered my mind, but then I realized, THE WHEELS OF JUSTICE GRIND SLOWLY, BUT THEY DO GRIND.
They will go after him in civil court and win they will, because the burden of proof is so much less in civil rather than criminal and THEY (the lawyers that is) have thousands of chances of picking his estate clean.
There is no legal obligation to join a class action suit. You can go it alone. No matter how good his attorneys are, they can’t win 12,000 lawsuits. Every single one of those unfortunate people he defrauded can, and should, sue.
Even more, perhaps its better this way, since the people he defrauded, rather than the government, now stand a chance of recovering their money.
Those Sharks are going to serve us Justice.
It all works.
God bless America!
From what I have read there is nothing prohibiting the many thousands of victims from suing his estate in civil court.
to Steve’s question: Ken Lay’s passion was Enron. He earnestly loved that company, and was mistakenly optimistic about the strength of it. When you’ve got some time, read “Conspiracy of Fools” by Eichenwald to gain a little deeper prospective then the media reports. All corporate safe guards that are normally in place in big business were removed, and thousands of people suffered because of it. Who removed these safe guards, who benefited, and then who’s responsible? These details aren’t easily understood, but by taking some time to read more than the headlines, I think one can have an informed opinion.
EAT THE RICH?LIFE IS A BITCH.
I call my self pistol whipped because down here at the bottom of the chain gang that is how they treated us. They forgot all about us and just tryed to keep us under their finger and they forgot we are humans also. Why I am bitter because I had 39yrs. with this conpany and they took my life. They say we have to start over that is hard to do at 65. ENRON