Ken Lay avoids prison sentence... - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Bill O'Rights · 07-05-2006, 10:47 AM

By dying!

Quote:

The death of former Enron Corp. Chairman Kenneth L. Lay this morning means he will not serve a prison term but may help people he victimized move on with their lives, according to some people who had contact with him during his brief time in Omaha.

Lay, 64, who faced a life sentence for lying about Enron's finances, died in Aspen, Colo.

The Sheriff's Office in Pitkin, Colo., said officers were called to Lay's house in Old Snowmass, Colo., shortly after 1 a.m. Mountain time. He was taken to Aspen Valley Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:11 a.m. Lay, who lived in Houston, frequently vacationed in Colorado.

Family spokeswoman Kelly L. Kimberly issued a statement saying, "Ken Lay passed away early this morning in Aspen. The Lays have a very large family with whom they need to communicate. And out of respect for the family, we will release further details at a later time."

She said the Lays did not own a place in Aspen but were renting.

Pastor Steve Wende of First United Methodist Church of Houston, said in a statement that church member Lay died unexpectedly of a "massive coronary. . . . Apparently, his heart simply gave out."

Lay, convicted May 25, was to be sentenced Oct. 23.

"He did a lot of destruction," said Douglas County Commissioner Mike Boyle, who was mayor of Omaha in 1985 when Lay engineered Enron's move to Houston. "I know many people in Omaha who lost almost everything when Enron collapsed because of his misdeeds.

"But you reach a point where your anger starts to subside and you need to let go and move on with your life. Hopefully that's what this will do for some people."

People won't have to worry about the outcome of an appeal of his conviction for defrauding investors and employees by lying about Enron's financial condition, Boyle said. "But it would have been nice to see him in a pink prison uniform."

Boyle said Lay deceived Omahans, including thousands of highly paid Enron employees, in 1985, putting up a "facade" that the company might keep its headquarters in Omaha or share the headquarters with Houston.

Lay planned all along to move the company to Houston, Boyle said.

Enron was created in the 1985 merger of Houston Natural Gas, which Lay headed, with InterNorth Inc. of Omaha, a natural gas pipeline company that was one of Nebraska's leading corporate citizens.

The shock of Enron's departure prompted the Nebraska Legislature to pass the state's first comprehensive business incentive laws.

Lay directed Enron's climb to No. 7 on the Fortune 500 list, with $101 billion in annual revenues. He got rid of the company's basic oil and gas businesses, instead turning to specialized trading and other financial businesses, including some that were illegal and led to his criminal charges.

Tim Thomas, a Houston engineer who lost his job when Enron collapsed, said Lay's death was "the easy way out. He didn't suffer like so many other people have.

"He needed to know what life is like to be out on the street, out of a job with no money, like 13,000 other people" who lost their jobs.

"Someone who collects multimillions of dollars a year in salaries and bonuses, he forgets how the common people live. That's not right."

Thomas said he expects that former Enron Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Skilling, also convicted of financial fraud, will go to prison.

Skilling declined to comment on Lay's death.

"You have one down and one to go now," Thomas said. "You just hope somebody pays somehow, because it was a real tragedy. It was a great place to work. It's a shame that people like him and others with that much greed and power ran it into the ground."

Already there are those in Omaha, which was beat rather badly by Lay, that are calling his death...convenient. Now, i'm not going to go that far, however...it does appear that Skilling, which many had predicted would be the "fall guy" in the Enron debacle, is gonna end up taking all the heat afterall.

Lay screwed Omaha up the ass, back in '85. There is not a tear being shed. I am, however, a little...I dunno..set back a bit by the outright venom being displayed over the man's death. Local talk radio is having a field day with it.

filtherton · 07-05-2006, 11:11 AM

Another brilliant capitalist brought down by overzealous government regulation.

Carno · 07-05-2006, 11:50 AM

He died. So what?

I'll never understand why death is seen as a shield; where when someone dies you're not supposed to talk about how shitty of a person they were.

I hope someone pisses on his grave.

frogza · 07-05-2006, 12:38 PM

The timing was a little off to be a great thing, if he had died just before the trials started it would have been better, save the people he screwed a little tax money from court costs. My question is what happens to the money now?

Charlatan · 07-05-2006, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carno

He died. So what?

I'll never understand why death is seen as a shield; where when someone dies you're not supposed to talk about how shitty of a person they were.

I hope someone pisses on his grave.

No... nobody should be shielding the guy. Most are just pissed he is beyond the misery that jail would have brought.

I am sure someone will piss on his grave...

dksuddeth · 07-05-2006, 02:47 PM

let us know if hell is hot enough for you ken.

Elphaba · 07-05-2006, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frogza

The timing was a little off to be a great thing, if he had died just before the trials started it would have been better, save the people he screwed a little tax money from court costs. My question is what happens to the money now?

From what I have read, his assets will be seized for restitution rather than going to his heirs.

JumpinJesus · 07-05-2006, 03:05 PM

I didn't know him so I'm not sad he died; I'm not glad, either. I was kind of hoping he'd suffer a few more years of humiliation before he went to hell. I was hoping the judge would sentence him to 30 years in a prison cell with no electricity.

Gatorade Frost · 07-05-2006, 03:09 PM

I think this is a good quote from the article:

"He did a lot of destruction," said Douglas County Commissioner Mike Boyle, who was mayor of Omaha in 1985 when Lay engineered Enron's move to Houston. "I know many people in Omaha who lost almost everything when Enron collapsed because of his misdeeds.

"But you reach a point where your anger starts to subside and you need to let go and move on with your life. Hopefully that's what this will do for some people."

analog · 07-05-2006, 07:44 PM

Got off easy. That asshole. I imagine there are a lot of people who will be LESS happy because now they know he won't suffer and rot in jail.

ASU2003 · 07-06-2006, 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elphaba

From what I have read, his assets will be seized for restitution rather than going to his heirs.

I wouldn't be so sure. That is the way it should happen, and maybe there will be civil lawsuits against his estate.

Quote:

According to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2006/07/05/...he-enron-case/, Lay's death might cause his conviction to be expunged.

Question: What happens to Lay's conviction?

Answer: Lay's conviction might be expunged, says criminal law professor Peter Henning in a fascinating post on the White Collar CrimeProf blog. Citing Fifth Circuit law (the federal jurisdiction encompassing Houston), Henning says that when a defendant dies before appellate review of a conviction, the death "abates, ab initio, the entire criminal proceeding." In a recent Fifth Circuit decision, United States v. Estate of Parsons, the court explained that "the appeal does not just disappear, and the case is not merely dismissed. Instead, everything associated with the case is extinguished, leaving the defendant as if he had never been indicted or convicted." The Fifth Circuit explained the rationale for the rule: "The finality principle reasons that the state should not label one as guilty until he has exhausted his opportunity to appeal. The punishment principle asserts that the state should not punish a dead person or his estate."

And that's a topic for the paranoia thread. Did he pay off the coroner and some police and fake his death.

If I wanted the media to go away and escape to a foreign country/island to live out the rest of my life in peace. This is the way to go. You would have to know how to travel without a passport and assume a different identity though.

hunnychile · 07-13-2006, 12:19 PM

..........OMG! and how about the latest press that "George Bush senior will be attending his funeral!"

Those rats are all in one nest.

As for Ken dying - nobody gets outta here alive.

Gatorade Frost · 07-13-2006, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hunnychile

..........OMG! and how about the latest press that "George Bush senior will be attending his funeral!"

Doesn't really bother me. Aren't they all in the oil business, or were at one point? It would be like Bill Gates going to Michael Dell's funeral or something like that, not that Dell did anything near as heinous as what Ken Lay did, but if they all knew each other personally or through business it doesn't seem like that big of a deal.

Ustwo · 07-13-2006, 01:24 PM

Ken Lay is worse than Hitler smoking in public.

Does anyone off the top of their head know the CEO of Global Crossing and how thats all going (you know the second biggest bankruptsy that happened right after Enron and has major political connections)?

07-05-2006, 11:50 AM	#3 (permalink)
Carno Junkie	He died. So what? I'll never understand why death is seen as a shield; where when someone dies you're not supposed to talk about how shitty of a person they were. I hope someone pisses on his grave. __________________ http://how-to-spell-ridiculous.com/

07-05-2006, 02:47 PM	#6 (permalink)
dksuddeth Junkie Location: bedford, tx	let us know if hell is hot enough for you ken. __________________ "no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything. You cannot conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him."

07-05-2006, 03:05 PM	#8 (permalink)
JumpinJesus Junkie Location: Chicago	I didn't know him so I'm not sad he died; I'm not glad, either. I was kind of hoping he'd suffer a few more years of humiliation before he went to hell. I was hoping the judge would sentence him to 30 years in a prison cell with no electricity. __________________ "I can normally tell how intelligent a man is by how stupid he thinks I am" - Cormac McCarthy, All The Pretty Horses

07-05-2006, 03:09 PM	#9 (permalink)
Gatorade Frost Rookie	I think this is a good quote from the article: "He did a lot of destruction," said Douglas County Commissioner Mike Boyle, who was mayor of Omaha in 1985 when Lay engineered Enron's move to Houston. "I know many people in Omaha who lost almost everything when Enron collapsed because of his misdeeds. "But you reach a point where your anger starts to subside and you need to let go and move on with your life. Hopefully that's what this will do for some people." __________________ I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well." Emo Philips

07-13-2006, 12:19 PM	#12 (permalink)
hunnychile Alien Anthropologist Location: Between Boredom and Nirvana	..........OMG! and how about the latest press that "George Bush senior will be attending his funeral!" Those rats are all in one nest. As for Ken dying - nobody gets outta here alive. __________________ "I need compassion, understanding and chocolate." - NJB

07-05-2006, 11:11 AM	#2 (permalink)
filtherton Junkie Location: In the land of ice and snow.	Another brilliant capitalist brought down by overzealous government regulation.

07-05-2006, 12:38 PM	#4 (permalink)
frogza Registered User Location: Right Here	The timing was a little off to be a great thing, if he had died just before the trials started it would have been better, save the people he screwed a little tax money from court costs. My question is what happens to the money now?

07-05-2006, 07:44 PM	#10 (permalink)
analog Banned	Got off easy. That asshole. I imagine there are a lot of people who will be LESS happy because now they know he won't suffer and rot in jail.

07-13-2006, 01:24 PM	#14 (permalink)
Ustwo Pissing in the cornflakes	Ken Lay is worse than Hitler smoking in public. Does anyone off the top of their head know the CEO of Global Crossing and how thats all going (you know the second biggest bankruptsy that happened right after Enron and has major political connections)? __________________ Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.