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24 Years for Enron's Jeff Skilling

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Mon Oct 23, 2006 at 04:32:00 PM EST
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Bump and Update: It's 24 years for Skilling who went down fighting, proclaiming his innocence to the court. His guidelines were 24 to 30 years.

In a Houston courtroom today, former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling will learn his fate.

With the untimely death of his co-defendant, former Enron CEO Ken Lay, Skilling now stands alone atop the smoldering ruins of a company that once claimed revenues of $111 billion and was named "America's Most Innovative Company" for six consecutive years.

I expect Skilling will get a hefty sentence, but I don't buy the theory that it will be heavier because Lay's death leaves him the only one to be held accountable. I think the Judge will give Skilling the same number of years in prison he would have imposed if he were sentencing both Skilling and Lay today.

Interestingly, Skilling's lawyers and the Government have agreed on a dollar amount for the loss which will serve as the basis for Skilling's sentencing guideline calculations.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, which Lake has said he will rely on, Skilling faces more than 20 years in prison if investor loss tied to his actions exceeds $80 million. Skilling also faces more than $18 million in fines for his crimes.

Prosecutors and Skilling's attorneys have agreed on an investor loss figure, but it is in sealed court documents and none of the lawyers would discuss it.

What is unfortunate is that there were many responsible for Enron's collapse, but those who cooperated with the Government to get Skilling and Lay got get of jail free cards or very reduced sentences in exchange for their testimony. That's the real reason Skilling is left to pay the piper alone.

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    24 Years for Enron's Jeff Skilling | 3 comments (3 topical)
    Re: Enron's Jeff Skilling Gets Sentenced Today (none / 0) (#1)
    by scribe on Mon Oct 23, 2006 at 03:26:17 PM EST
    The Houston Chronicle reports Skilling got 292 months.  Bashman says this seems like the low end of the sentencing guidelines range;  Prof. Berman at Sentencing Law and Policy concurs and collects entries from elsewhere, though I wish he'd rename this post.  Skilling apparently was exposed to between 292 and 365 months.

    Also, while Skilling does not get bail on appeal, he will not have to report to prison until the Bureau of Prisons says he does.  Until then, he's on electroically monitored home confinement.  That seems like a pretty sweet deal.  

    I get the speculative feeling that the gov't wants Bureau of Prisons to keep him around Houston and outside of bars long enough to participate in the resolutions of the civil suits, if only to avoid having to fly him around for depositions or such, therefore no immediate prison.  But I'm just speculating there.

    Re: Enron's Jeff Skilling Gets Sentenced Today (none / 0) (#2)
    by kdog on Mon Oct 23, 2006 at 05:18:32 PM EST
    Until then, he's on electroically monitored home confinement

    Typical...compare that to this...and you've got yourself some Texas justice.  

    Re: 24 Years for Enron's Jeff Skilling (none / 0) (#3)
    by Che's Lounge on Mon Oct 23, 2006 at 07:45:16 PM EST
    What are his assets? I live in California. Send them to me. Then all is forgiven. Til then, with a white hot poker Jeff.

    24 Years for Enron's Jeff Skilling | 3 comments (3 topical)