Skilling: Give me my money so I can pay my lawyers

Things aren't that easy these days for ex-Enron CEO Jeff Skilling: Not only has he been convicted of helping bring down a huge energy company, but now he can't get at some $60 million of his money. Skilling's lawyers are trying to change that, though, by asking the government to release the $60 mil — partly so he can have some spending money, but mostly because Skilling still owes his legal team millions of dollars.

Defense attorney Daniel Petrocelli filed a motion with Judge Sim Lake on Monday asking that the money be released. He said Skilling could forfeit the profit from the one case of insider trading jurors convicted Skilling of, but he shouldn't have to:

“It could be as low as zero, but they can make a case for maybe a few million here or there but it’s a pretty low number, given that they have restrained virtually everything Jeff owns,” Petrocelli said.

Though Skilling paid $23 million to his legal team, according to the Chronicle, he still owes them "tens of millions." During the trial, Skilling said his assets included a $5 million mansion in Houston, a $350,000 condo in Dallas, two Land Rovers, a Mercedes and nearly $50 million in stocks and bonds frozen by the government. Petrocelli is hoping to keep that money from falling into prosecutors' hands and being distributed to an Enron victims' fund — ah, yes, the worst possible use.

In other trial-related business, Skilling and Enron Chairman Ken Lay also asked that their Sept. 11 sentencing date be pushed back by up to 45 days to give the defense more time to prepare to argue sentencing guidelines. The pair could be sent to prison for 25 years or more.