Tag: Enron

Jeffrey Skilling, sentenced to 24 years in prison in the Enron case, had his conviction affirmed today by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals -- but the Court said the trial judge erred in his sentencing calculations.

The trial judge bumped Skilling four levels for "substantially jeopardizing the safety and soundness of a “financial institution.” The appeals court said that was improper because there was no evidence the Enron Corporation Savings Plan and the Employee Stock Ownership Plan
are "pension plans" or “financial institutions” and any doubt must be resolved in favor of Skilling. It said "We are unprepared to declare every corporate retirement vehicle a “financial institution.”

Skilling must be resentenced. His guidelines now will be level 36 and Criminal History Category 1 or 188 to 235 months. Since the court initially sentenced him to the bottom of the range, I expect it will do the same on resentencing, resulting in Skilling's sentence dropping from 240 months to 188 months. [More...]

Update: Here' s a preliminary news report on the hearing.

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Original Post

Former Enron CFO Jeff Skilling, serving a 24 year sentence in federal prison, has his day in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

By all accounts, he has a very good chance of getting a reversal on most of the counts he was convicted on. [More...]

Thanks to the WSJ for putting the 237 page appeal brief (pdf) filed by Enron's former President and CEO Jeffrey Skilling online.

I'm just starting to read it, but the section on why oral argument is requested gives you a good sense of its flavor. After pointing out that contrary to the public's perception, Skilling was not convicted of causing Enron's collapse, it states:

Profound, inherent weaknesses in the government’s case—not just gaps in its evidentiary proof, but doubts about its basic theories of criminality—motivated the government to resort to novel and incorrect legal theories, demand truncated and unfair trial procedures, and use coercive and abusive tactics.

No word yet from the Court as to whether it will accept such a long brief. Appeals courts have strict limits on the length of briefs. I remember when the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals fined Timothy McVeigh's court-appointed appeals counsel for filing an overly long (226 page)brief. I thought it was very unfair.

More...

Go directly to jail, do not pass Go, and forget about collecting $200. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals took one day after yesterday's stay order to deliver that message to Enron's Jeffrey Skilling today.

Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in his two-page order that "Skilling raises no substantial question that is likely to result in the reversal of his convictions on all of the charged counts."

As a result, Higginbotham denied Skilling's request for bail pending his appeal and vacated an earlier order staying his prison report date.

Skilling must now report to the low security level federal prison at Waseca, MN to begin serving his 24 year sentence. Ouch. But the Judge gave Skilling a glimmer of hope for his appeal:

Enron's Jeff Skilling caught a last minute break from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Monday. He won't have to report to his designated prison at Waseca, MN today.

Skilling has a motion for bail pending appeal under consideration and the Court ruled he can stay out until it is decided.

Skilling has been sentenced to 24 years.