Results tagged “joanniewilliamson”

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.

Defense lawyers began trying to chip away at the prosecution's story Monday, the first day of the defense's case in the trial of former Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling. The main testimony came from Joannie Williamson, a former assistant to ex-Enron Chairman Lay, ex-CEO Skilling and ex-head of investor relations Mark Koenig, who was on the witness stand for more than eight days for the prosecution. Williamson said yesterday that Koenig perjured himself when he pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting securities fraud in August 2004.

Prosecutors rested their case against former Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling yesterday, asking Judge Sim Lake to drop three charges against Skilling and one against Lay. The dropped charges against Skilling concern a 2000 deal, Project Greyhawk, which prosecutors say the ex-Enron CEO and others created to take advantage of an anticipated jump in Enron's stock price. But to prosecute those allegations, the government would have had to get into the business of...