Thursday, July 08, 2004

Enron ex-boss pleads 'not guilty'

BBC NEWS | Business | Enron ex-boss pleads 'not guilty': "Enron ex-chairman Kenneth Lay has pleaded 'not guilty' to 11 criminal charges over the collapse of the former US energy giant.
The charges against Mr Lay include bank fraud, share trading fraud and making false statements."

I have had several people ask me "Why did it take so long?" My best answer is that prosecutors wanted to be sure they had a solid case before proceeding and the Enron case was/is so complex (on many levels) that rather than make a misstep, they waited until there was apparently enough information. (It will be interesting to see what Fastow and Skilling have said).

Is he guilty? My guess is that the jury will find him guilty, but it is not assured given the complexity. However, that said I sure would not want to be him. If convicted Lay is facing 175 years in prison, which is a LONG LONG time.

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