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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSo It Goes: Enron Perp Will Get Out of Jail (Almost) Free By Buying Himself Out
Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling - who spearheaded an epic $40 billion fraud costing thousands of employees their jobs and pensions - but famously claimed, "Were the good guys" - has reportedly cut a deal with prosecutors to get out of jail a decade early by paying his victims a bit to shut up already. Under the deal, arranged after the kind of complex legal maneuvering rich white men can indulge in, Skilling will stop suing everyone and pay his victims $40 million, or 0.1% of what Enron stole in the first place. In a relative universe, the six years he's served is more than any of the current perps who trashed the economy. Then again, if he was a black guy who held up the 7-11, he'd still be on latrine duty.
-Abby Zimet
http://www.commondreams.org/further/2013/05/09-5
dogknob
(2,431 posts)Turbineguy
(37,334 posts)Wayne LaPierre can make sure he's armed so he can continue doing harm.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Not to mention a lawyer's bill.
They better make him pay before they release him, don't ya think?
KansDem
(28,498 posts)...before I'd let him out of prison.
But then, I wouldn't let him out of prison!
Mr. David
(535 posts)to arrest him and take him to California for screwing California.
And then he can spend the rest of his life in prison, after paying back $1 billion to California from the hidden assets in the Caymans.
And give up the location of Ken Lay, who is not dead, but hiding.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)If I sound bitter it's because our president is letting Gov Siegelman rot in prison apparently because he isnt wealthy.
I wonder what position the president will appoint him to.
Dragonfli
(10,622 posts)Deputy Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank has been performing the duties of Secretary of Commerce supposedly until a new one is nominated.
On June 21, 2012 Bryson resigned because, "the work that we do to help Americas entrepreneurs and businesses build our economy and create jobs is more important now than ever and I have come to the conclusion that I need to step down to prevent distractions from this critical mission."
Something high ranking in energy would fit his felonious skill set better, but he would likely be a good man in Obama's eyes "to help Americas entrepreneurs and businesses build our economy"
The Republicans may allow it as well which as we know is the most important thing in the eyes of a centrist, bipartisan thievery being very serious, pragmatic business that must be done, you know, because "something" needs to be done and Republicans and the third way can find tons of "common ground" on these sort of things.
Oh shit, that's been covered already by a very pragmatic choice, what else is open for him?
kenny blankenship
(15,689 posts)Truly there is no justice in this world. We demand justice for Jeffrey!
Dragonfli
(10,622 posts)He will probably sail right through the confirmation hearings! He could help us to take advantage of the new and wondrous fracking tech that will be important, just like clean coal (coal is clean you know, like a bar of black Irish Spring) will be for an all of the above approach along with more oil production to help with the green plan!
Someone will have to assist the awesome CEO Sally Jewell, Ms. Jewell is seen as at least somewhat friendly toward oil and natural gas. She also says she backs an all-of-the-above energy strategy.
Oh fuck! he just missed that one too, Ernest Moniz, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and former undersecretary at the department, praised the U.S. natural gas revolution brought about by widespread use of fracking and said it must continue. The Republicans loved the guy and he sailed through senate confirmations with something for every industry.
Mr. Moniz even had kind words for coal, saying the fuel public enemy No. 1 in the environmental community and among many liberals in Congress is likely to remain a part of the American energy portfolio, though he stipulated that clean coal (just as clean and fresh as an irish spring I tells ya) technologies are an essential part of that equation.
Mr. Moniz reassured coal-state senators that he believes the fuel wont be shoved aside.
We see coal as being a continuing, major part of the energy supply in the U.S., and certainly in the world,
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)won an appeal. The DOJ was ordered to consider a plea agreement before resentencing.
I am assuming that you know enough about this case to comment on the nature of the judicial proceedings. What would you have had the DOJ do differently, specifically?
abelenkpe
(9,933 posts)Without money everyone knows the situation would be very different.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)abelenkpe
(9,933 posts)there would be no appeal. There wouldn't be teams of lawyers working the system for him. And even if he did get an appeal as a common man it would have taken much much longer. Don't pretend it isn't true. The rules are different for the wealthy than they are for everyone else.
snappyturtle
(14,656 posts)Demo_Chris
(6,234 posts)The guy stole 40 BILLION dollars while destroying the lives of thousands of everyday Americans. He should NEVER get out of prison.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)Skilling was tried and convicted during the Bush Admin. The overturn of his sentence was a 9-0 SCOTUS decision.
The federal judge who calculated the original sentence erred in his add up.
Tell us what should have been done differently by the Obama administration? Should they not have entered into a plea negotiation, even when expected by the court to do so?
Mr. David
(535 posts)Skilling does not deserve to be free member of society until _ALL_ $40 billion is recovered.
He needs to remain a prisoner until then.
Demo_Chris
(6,234 posts)Take it back to court. The guy stole 40 BILLION dollars and destroyed the lives of thousands of people and he's getting VIP treatment.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)I mean it is not like money and power are buying him his freedom. That won't influence anything he does I bet in the future.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)the law as ordered by the courts.
Typical ODS.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)He should be stripped of all his money for restitution. I doubt he was tried for everything he did. I believe the DoJ works for the 1% and not the 99%. Maybe if Pres Obama appointed someone that represents the 99% to something, I wouldnt be so cynical.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Their other option was to let the trial court resentence him--under inflexible guidelines that mandate a 14-17 year sentence. So, 15 years is not exactly a cave, especially since it includes a waiver of all future appeals.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)return his money.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)the restitution.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Mr. Petrocelli said the government's efforts to go after the assets of his client and those of Mr. Lay illustrated an overreaching of federal authority. "The issue is the recklessness and overzealousness with which the government has pursued the Enron case right from the inception," Mr. Petrocelli said.
At issue, too, are Mr. Skilling's obligations to his lawyers. Mr. Petrocelli's law firm, O'Melveny & Myers, is awaiting more than $20 million of payments from its client for work carried out since last September. "Jeff wants to pay his lawyers, to whom he owes tens of millions of dollars," Mr. Petrocelli said, "and would like to satisfy family obligations including child support."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/06/business/06legal.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/23/business/24enroncnd.html
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)including a close friend of mine. Mr. Skilling was allowed to keep his ill gotten gains and use it to buy his way out of jail. He had enough money to badger the legal system into reducing his sentence in agreement that he stop his legal harassment.
Nothing wrong here, keep moving.
I am disappointed in your defense of Mr. Skilling and the corrupt justice system.
As far as our President, with his pick of Penny Pritzker, he has made it crystal clear whose side of this class war he is on. Of course he belongs to the 1% club himself.
Skilling walks as Siegelman rots.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)Or are you suggesting that the President should ignore the ruling?
As for Mr. Skilling, where, precisely, is he walking? He's been in jail for six years, and will be in jail until at least 2017. That's not a small amount of time. It is perhaps not all the time he deserves, but it is within sentencing guidelines.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)wealthy enjoy. Gov Siegelman was politically railroaded and the DoJ has turned their back. The DoJ is fighting tooth and nail to persecute medical marijuana users, and users in states that have said they want it legal. Now you can tell me that each and every step in the Skilling prosecution was legal, but when the smoke clears, the 1% get special treatment.
And I bet Skilling wont be in jail until 2017.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)being dropped, and time off on the resentence. Did Siegelman get special treatment when 'honest services' was ruled constitutionally vague?
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Mr. David
(535 posts)This man screwed millions of people and a state.
No, Until every single penny has been replaced, Skillings can remain in prison and rotting.
The U.S. Department of Justice got this one wrong. Skillings should *NOT* be freed before Siegelman gets freed.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Just because you suffer a little cancer pain doesnt mean you get to use marijuana. Unless you are of the 1%.
Pardon Gov Siegelman and not Bush/Cheney.
Mr. David
(535 posts)Not because he won by an overturn.
He needs to go back to trial and resentenced to life in prison, without parole.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)Mr. David
(535 posts)And even if Skillings gets out, he still has to answer for criminal charges in California and civil lawsuits up to the wazoo.
It's not over for him. He may buy himself a get-out-of-jail-free tickets, but he's far from done with the justice system.
He better get used to sniffing Manson's odor from next door.
secondvariety
(1,245 posts)The middle finger.
grahamhgreen
(15,741 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)and most Americans can't afford it.
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)so much money?
the parents of petty drug dealers get their *homes* taken away just because they let their idiot sons stay with them.
Autumn
(45,096 posts)he can pay to play. Sucks but I guess Lady Justice has become a whore.
Dragonfli
(10,622 posts)The "more equal" rich men can keep what they steal and buy early release, others are completely above the law (they have even more money so they are "much more equal" and thus too big to jail).
Petty drug dealers are not rich so they aren't so equal, you know what they say, "can't pay the vig, jail is your gig" - "enough money to talk and you get to walk"
They get to steal Dad's or Grandma's property as a bonus because someone has to pay for the drug wars and it sure as hell isn't gonna' be the wealthy "job creators" or the respectable criminals that steal billions and get their bonuses from what they steal or directly from taxpayers.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)sentence, AND when a statute under which Skilling was prosecuted is adjudged 'constitutionally vague,' then you have a defendant who is entitled to a resentence.
When you have a resentence in the federal system, the prosecution and the defense are generally expected to work on a plea.
That's what happened here.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Interesting how the wealthy can always find a way out. Skilling should not have a dime to his name after what he did.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)vagueness in the sentencing--there was vagueness in the statute he was prosecuted under.
I agree with you that Skilling deserves more punishment, including penury.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)msanthrope
(37,549 posts)it may seem disproportionate to the totality of crimes he committed.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)amount of wealth he gets to keep. Why would the overlords allow him to keep his wealth? That's a rhetorical question. The answer is obvious.
Mr. David
(535 posts)in length of his prison terms.
He needs to add another 50 more years before he can gain permission to ask for parole.
HughBeaumont
(24,461 posts)Must be nice when you can get away with multiple felonies relating to securities fraud, serve at a country club jail, get released and be worth two BILLION dollars a couple of decades later.
Turns out he wasn't forced to give up ALL his wealth.
When wealth goes to the top, by hook or by crook, it pretty much stays there.
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)abq e streeter
(7,658 posts)Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)sorefeet
(1,241 posts)BRIBERY.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)"I'll pay $40 million to the victims, and you chop a few years off my sentence!"
Or could there be a tiny bit more to the story? (If there is, it's not in the OP's link).
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)ergo this deal.
Restitution was always going to happen.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)Talk about omitting pertinent information.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)millions and yet you rationalize he should be set free early. He didnt just hire some lawyers to defend himself. They legally harassed the court system with suits and appeals. Only wealth can do that. Of course the justice system decided to change his sentencing, it's all legal. And some here applaud him for beating the system while millions of ordinary people lost their retirements and savings.
I stand with those of the 99% that lost their retirements and life savings, who do you stand with?
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)as much for the actually innocent.
His lawyers got a few years knocked off his sentence because the trial judge misapplied the federal guidelines. Not an uncommon occurrence. They didn't get his conviction overturned.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)their fair share of "process". I have a lot more empathy for those in the 99% that get crushed by process than those in the 1%.
My idea of "due process" for him is to strip him of all his wealth and return it to the victims.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)those without.
A good question is whether this means they are able to rig the courts and evade justice, or whether the courts and police trample those who can't afford a team of lawyers.
His criminal conviction and payment doesn't immunize him to civil suits.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)most of his savings. He is in no position to go up against the wealth of Skilling and his 50 lawyers.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)All of Skilling's assets are frozen and held in trust by the USG. He also owes his defense team $30 million supposedly.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)(millions) for themselves. By the time the common people get their share, it's a pittance. Only in America. Land of the oligarchs.
Mr. David
(535 posts)And it is not harsh enough. He needs to be in solitary confinement for the rest of his life, no more visits, no more letter-writing, no more phone calls.
Skillings needs to find himself in the hole, with the key thrown away, and forgotten.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)It's formulaic, rather than "what does this bastard deserve?"
Ilsa
(61,695 posts)How well has crime paid for this crook? And only six years served after ruining thousands of lives of employees, pensioners, investors.
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)minimum security facility while he wrote his book. He walked away a billionaire and is now making even more money stealing your kid's education budget.
Who says crime doesn't pay? The Country Club set becomes the Country Club set by stealing huge piles of money, it's the small time crooks and pot smokers that go to jail.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)DinahMoeHum
(21,793 posts)customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)Eventually he will see someone over his shoulder, coming for him hard. Maybe somebody he screwed over who's dying of cancer, and doesn't have a damned thing to lose.
Initech
(100,079 posts)Mr. David
(535 posts)Enron screwed California, and someone has to pay.
Why not Skillings? Let him rot there next to Manson.
kelliekat44
(7,759 posts)It's the Obama Justice Department but they the are following the law and everyone knows the SCOTUS is packed with RW backers. But the nation needs to be reminded that it's the uber wealthy who can steal from working men and women, take their pensions, attack their unions, and still not pay the price. It's still corporate America that is as much an enemy of the people as the RW would have you believe that government is.
erpowers
(9,350 posts)It is very sad that he will get out after paying $40 million. They should make him pay the fine and keep him in jail. I am not saying that the federal government should trick Jeff Skilling. My point is the fine should be mandatory and not come with Skilling being released from prison.
HughBeaumont
(24,461 posts)Once wealth goes to the top, not even prison will keep it from leaving.
midnight
(26,624 posts)sulphurdunn
(6,891 posts)how he has $40 million to buy his way out with. Had justice been served this guy would do all his time and then walk with a nothing but a cheap suit and a cardboard suitcase.
frylock
(34,825 posts)and i'm not being glib.
Rain Mcloud
(812 posts)Remember the Savings and Loan fiasco in the '90s?
This does not get much play in the media anymore since it makes the case against deregulation of the too big to fail/jail.
Specifically the Silverado Savings and Loan comes to mind when Neil Bush and his business partners made off with $100 million and gave back $50,000 in fines which cost the taxpayers $1.3 Billion dollars.
Since he was a Bush and deregulation and oversight was banned then it was no big deal apparently.
"The U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision investigated Silverado's failure and determined that Neil Bush had engaged in numerous "breaches of his fiduciary duties involving multiple conflicts of interest." Although Bush was not indicted on criminal charges, a civil action was brought against him and the other Silverado directors by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; it was eventually settled out of court, with Bush paying $50,000 as part of the settlement, the Washington Post reported.[27]
As a director of a failing thrift, Bush voted to approve $100 million in what were ultimately bad loans to two of his business partners. And in voting for the loans, he failed to inform fellow board members at Silverado Savings & Loan that the loan applicants were his business partners.[citation needed]
Neil Bush paid a $50,000 fine, paid for him by Republican supporters,[28] and was banned from banking activities for his role in taking down Silverado, which cost taxpayers $1.3 billion. A Resolution Trust Corporation Suit against Bush and other officers of Silverado was settled in 1991 for $26.5 million."
Source: Wiki
Read more here:[link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savings_and_loan_crisis|