Enron's Koenig Contradicts One of Lay's Defenses

[WhiteTara]

There is little to bring me any smiles lately, but here is the big smile of my day
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a0_7I_nybZiA&refer=us
Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- A former Enron Corp. official contradicted ex-chairman Kenneth Lay's defense that he was uninvolved with daily management and said former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling knew the company changed earnings reports to meet forecasts.

Mark Koenig, Enron's former head of investor relations who's pleaded guilty to a fraud charge, testified as the first prosecution witness in Lay and Skilling's fraud trial. The two men are accused of orchestrating the fraud that forced the seventh-largest U.S. company by sales into bankruptcy in 2001.

``Mr. Lay was less involved in the period Mr. Skilling still served as chief executive,'' Koenig told a jury today in federal court in Houston. ``But Mr. Lay was still highly involved and after Mr. Skilling departed, he became even more involved.'' Skilling stepped down in 2001, citing ``personal reasons.''

snip

``As CEO of the company, I accept responsibility for Enron's collapse,'' Lay said in a speech to a Houston business roundtable in December 2005. ``However, that does not mean I knew everything that happened at Enron, and I firmly reject any notion that I engaged in any wrongful or criminal activity.''

Koenig also told jurors that he and other senior managers met weekly on the 50th floor of Enron's Houston headquarters. Skilling and Lay, whose offices were located on that floor, led the meetings. At those meetings, officials would update the company's top executives about events within their units.

Unless they tamper with the jury, this is a slam dunk

[hippiechick]

1. Ok, so if he was the CEO and didn't know shit ...

... then why was he being paid a gazillion dollars a year, plus stock, etc ?

If he wasn't "aware" that he was in charge of the ultimate fate of the company, then he shouldn't have been CEO.

The "I'm too stupid to be held accountable" defense. :puke: Typical Republican.

[bahrbearian]

2. He can use the Ronald Raygun defense, "I don't remember"

[WhiteTara]

3. He's going down. I hope he bankrupts

loses all his stuff and sleeps on a lumpy mattress with 100 thread count sheets and eats bad food always with the light on down the hall of his jail cell.

[hippiechick]

4. Personally,

I'd love to see him sentenced to a drive thru order-taker's job at McDonald's in Harlem, with a room at the local halfway house, no insurance and a city bus pass.

And all the Enron employees who lost their pensions can take turns vacationing in whatever mansions he has all over the world & playing with all his toys.

:hi:

[Demeter]

5. Seems Fair!

[sam the dawg]

6. doesn't matter

they are just burning tax payers money.
all of them will be pardoned if convicted.
the way the game works.
they are players on the winning team.

[sofa king]

7. Bush is the Ben Wallace waiting to reject that slam dunk.

I'm sure that Kenny Boy has the same deal with the President that Karl Rove and Jack Abramoff have with him: if my ass touches a concrete bench, you're going down with me.

The case will be delayed past November, and then he'll be pardoned.

I wish someone in Vegas would take my bet on that. I could retire early.