Results tagged “ceojeffskilling”

Good morning, Houston. We heard a few weeks ago about a bat infestation at TSU, but now there's something else happening in the halls of academia: a bee infestation at UH. It seems 100,000 of the industrious little critters have taken up residence in the walls of the Cullen College of Engineering, but rather than exterminate, the university is planning to move the bees to a wooded section of campus. Beekeeper Mike Knuckley will...

Remember former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's unusual stroke of good luck when he learned Monday that he wouldn't be sent to jail as scheduled? Well, scratch that: A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decided yesterday that Skilling should report immediately to jail after all. Sucks to be you, Jeff.

Looks like former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling will have at least a bit longer at home before he has to report to a federal prison in Minnesota: Yesterday, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals postponed Skilling's report date while it considers his request for bail while he appeals his convictions on 19 charges of fraud, conspiracy and insider trading in connection with Enron's collapse. It's a short-term reprieve for Skilling, and it could point to promising developments for him in the long term:

Weeks before he's set to report to prison, former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling has agreed to the distribution of $85 million to former Enron employees, part of a series of settlements totaling $265 million for more than 20,000 workers trying to recover some part of their pensions. "Yes, it's over. Our clients are thrilled," Lynn Sarko, a lawyer representing former Enroners, said. "While they are grateful that some of their retirement money was recovered, it...

Another former Enron executive learned his fate — at least his short-term fate — in court yesterday: Richard Causey, the company's ex-head accountant, was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for his role in helping maintain Enron's accounting fraud. The sentence is 18 months less than the seven-year maximum Causey agreed to serve last year when he pleaded guilty to securities fraud, but it's far less than he could have ended up with had he gone to trial and been found guilty.

Five months after former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling was found guilty of 19 counts of fraud, conspiracy and insider trading, Skilling will learn his fate at 1 p.m. today in the federal courthouse at 515 Rusk Ave. And the hearing is open to the public — so hey, if you're having a slow afternoon, why not swing by?

So former Enron Chairman Ken Lay's criminal record is now clean, thanks to a ruling yesterday from U.S. District Judge Sim Lake that erased Lay's convictions on 10 counts of fraud and conspiracy in connection with Enron's collapse. Too bad Lay's not around to enjoy the freedom. In his ruling, Lake agreed with lawyers for Lay's estate who argued that the conviction should be erased and indictments against Lay dropped because of his death from...

This summer, about two months after former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling was convicted of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors in connection with the Enron collapse, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake denied Skilling's request to have his conviction overturned. But never say Skilling is a quitter: Now, he's again asking Lake to overturn his conviction, this time based on a federal appeals court ruling. The ruling in question had to do with some...

Former Enron CFO Andy Fastow is scheduled to be sentenced this morning, and he might have some unwanted company at his hearing: U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt has invited former Enron employees to attend and talk about how Enron's collapse affected their lives. Wonder if he'll learn any new words?

The Chronicle is reporting that ex-Enron CEO Jeff Skilling was arrested and accused of public intoxication in Dallas earlier this month — but he won't go to jail for violating the terms of his bond. Skilling was arrested in the early morning of Sept. 9 in the 3600 block of McKinney Avenue; he wasn't drinking at the time and didn't resist arrest. Public intoxication, a Class C misdemeanor, carries a fine of up to $500; Skilling got a $385 ticket and was briefly held in a city jail.

And the Enron legal saga goes on: A day after we learned that Judge Sim Lake approved a request from Lay's lawyers to substitute Lay's estate for Lay in court proceedings, the first step toward vacating the dead former Enron leader's conviction on fraud and conspiracy charges, Lay's estate attorneys filed a request today to erase the convictions and dismiss the indictment against Lay. But it looks like prosecutors aren't going to take that lying down: The filing included a sentence that said Lay's lawyer, Michael Ramsey, had "conferred with [prosecutor] Kathy Ruemmler, who indicated the government will oppose this motion."

Ex-Enron chief Ken Lay's lawyers took the first step toward getting his conviction vacated yesterday, filing a request with U.S. District Sim Lake that would substitute Lay's estate for Lay, who died July 5. The request would allow the estate to act on Lay's behalf, which would in turn allow the estate to move to dismiss Lay's indictment on charges of fraud and conspiracy in connection with Enron's collapse.

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.

Prosecutors in the Enron trial wrapped up their closing arguments Wednesday, hitting more highlights of 15 weeks of testimony and urging jurors to decide the case against former Enron Chairman Ken Lay and ex-CEO Jeff Skilling as a "black and white" matter.

Judge Sim Lake and the lawyers in the Enron trial met yesterday to agree on the legal instructions Lake will give the jury Monday, which include a charge to consider whether ex-Enron Chairman Ken Lay and ex-CEO Jeff Skilling were "deliberately ignorant," ignoring warnings about improper conduct at the company, or whether they acted on a "good faith" intention to fulfill their duties. Lay lawyer Michael Ramsey, back in court this week after five weeks...

The defense in the Enron trial was dealt a setback Thursday when they had to drop a plan to introduce evidence from ex-Arthur Andersen partner David Duncan. Attorneys for former Enron Chairman Ken Lay and former CEO Jeff Skilling had planned to read jurors more than an hour of testimony Duncan gave in the 2002 Andersen trial, but Judge Sim Lake said if they did that, prosecutors could bring up the fact that Duncan admitted he ordered Enron-related documents shredded two days after he learned about a federal probe into the company.

An accounting consultant being paid by former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling testified yesterday that Skilling — and Enron — did nothing wrong in the accounting practices prosecution witnesses called shady and dishonest. Accountant Walter Rush was testifying in the trial of Skilling and former Enron Chairman Ken Lay, which is in its last days.

Ken Lay burst into his first day of cross-examination yesterday, angrily denying that he had tried to influence witnesses and implying that prosecutor John Hueston was one of the people Lay accused of carrying out a "character assassination" against him. Lay, the former Enron chairman, has been on the witness stand in his and ex-Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's trial all week; Wednesday was the first of as many as three days he'll spend being questioned by government prosecutors.

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Ex-Enron CEO Jeff Skilling finished his eight days of testimony in his own trial yesterday, saying his experience since Enron started its downward slide has made him wish he never ran the company, which was the seventh largest in the nation before it collapsed. "It's been a tough six years, it's been a really hard six years," he told reporters Thursday.

Prosecutor Sean Berkowitz abruptly ended cross-examination of former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling yesterday after asking Skilling whether he didn't leave Enron in August 2001 because he wanted to become CEO of Lucent Technologies. Skilling has given several reasons for leaving the company, mainly related to Enron burnout and wanting to spend more time with his family, but prosecutors claim he resigned because he knew Enron was headed for collapse.

Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling began testimony under cross-examination yesterday, quickly finding that prosecutor Sean Berkowitz wasn't going to give him much latitutde. Berkowitz seemed very well-versed in Skilling's deals at Enron, pressing the former executive on details of his deals and side deals and trying to unravel the defense's portrayal of Skilling as a regular ol' good guy who is unfairly burdened by false accusations.

Ex-Enron CEO Jeff Skilling kept denying accusations against him during testimony in his trial yesterday, saying he would have called the FBI if he had ever become aware of any criminal activity at Enron. Maybe. "I was aware of no illegal activity occurring at Enron Corp.," Skilling said. "I would have called the FBI. I might have a little hesitation now about doing that," he said. "You're a little angry at the government aren't you?"...

Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling continued testifying in his and ex-Chairman Ken Lay's trial yesterday, maintaining his innocence and saying he didn't remember doing some of things he's been accused of.

Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling began the rather tough task of convincing the jurors that he's just like you and me — er, like them — during his first day of testimony in his and ex-Enron Chairman Ken Lay's trial yesterday. Skilling, you'll remember, was known for the grace and charm with which he treated people during his days at the Big E (there was that infamous conference call during which Skilling called an analyst...

Ex-Enron CEO Jeff Skilling tried to sell one-fifth of his Enron stock days before the Sept. 11 attacks, his broker testified Monday. Though the attemped sale wasn't illegal, it does cast doubt on Skilling's statements to SEC investigators that the reason he tried to sell the stock was because of post-Sept. 11 concerns, not Enron's tottering corporate health.

As we enter the seventh week of the trial of ex-Enron Chairman Ken Lay and ex-CEO Jeff Skilling, the Chronicle takes a look at some of the iffy investments Enron made before it imploded. The foreign energy deals weren't nearly as stable as Enron execs indicated, but most of them are still operational — though, as the Chronicle notes, it's not clear how well they're doing today.

Defense lawyer Daniel Petrocelli went after ex-Enron CFO Andrew Fastow yesterday, trying to cast doubt on Fastow's previous testimony about the company's shady side financial deals and former CEO Jeff Skilling's involvement in them. It was Fastow's second day of cross-examination in the trial of Skilling and ex-Enron Chairman Ken Lay. On Tuesday, Fastow had testified about a "global galactic list" he made in 2000 to keep track with all Enron's side deals, which he...

Yesterday in the Lay/Skilling trial, defense lawyers hit witness Kevin Hannon right where it hurt: in the funny bone. Hannon, the former CEO of Enron Broadband Services, testified Thursday that ex-Enron CEO Jeff Skilling told executives during a May 2001 meeting, "They're on to us," referring to a Wall Street investment firm questioning Enron's earnings. On Monday, Skilling lawyer Mark Holscher asked Hannon whether Skilling might not have made the statement sarcastically: "Anything's possible," Hannon...

The latest witness in the Lay/Skilling trial testified that ex-Enron CEO Jeff Skilling told a group of top Enron executives, "They're on to us," referring to Wall Street analysts who asked questions about the company's earnings, the value of its Internet division and the stability of its trading arm. The comment came during a May 2001 meeting that former Enron Broadband Services CEO Kevin Hannon told jurors about Thursday: He said Skilling, [ex-Enron Chairman] Ken...