Trial, Day 7: Tangents

Under cross-examination by Jeff Skilling's lawyer, ex-Enron head of investor relations Mark Koenig said Thursday that neither Skilling, the former Enron CEO, or former Enron head Ken Lay specifically told him to lie about the company's well-being. It was the fourth day of cross-examination of Koenig in the Lay/Skilling trial, and lawyer Daniel Petrocelli continued trying to make Koenig's previous testimony seem forced and unfounded.

Petrocelli questioned Koenig about a change he made to his cooperation agreement when he realized it was Skilling who made the statement he'd confessed to making.

"Don't you think this is pretty thin stuff?" Petrocelli asked of the mispresentations Koenig claimed he made about the value of Enron's broadband and retail businesses on investor and analyst calls.

"I pled guilty to aiding and abetting securities fraud. I did not plead guilty to one statement. I don't think it's thin or I would not have pled guilty," Koenig came back.

At another point, Petrocelli asked Koenig — who has testified that he and other Enron executives misrepresented Enron's financial health to investors and analysts to keep stock prices up — why he didn't cooperate with Lay and Skilling before the trial. Koenig said his lawyers told him not to, but the fact that defendants accused Koenig of lying when he pleaded guilty didn't help things much.

Also Thursday, Judge Sim Lake chastised Lay's lawyer, Mike Ramsey, for bringing up topics Koenig hadn't talked about in his original testimony and for repeatedly trying to make his own points during cross-examination. "This is an undue waste of our time," Lake told Ramsey at one point. Koenig will return to the stand Monday.