Skilling sentenced to 24 years in prison

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/23/business/24enroncnd.html?hp&ex=1161662400&en=bd59dc60ba416f86&ei=5094&partner=homepage


HOUSTON, Oct. 24 — Jeffrey K. Skilling, the former chief executive of Enron, was sentenced this afternoon to more than 24 years in prison for his role in the energy giant’s collapse.


David J. Phillip/Associated Press
Jeffrey K. Skilling arriving today at Federal Court in Houston.


Indictment (U.S. v. Lay, et al.) (pdf)
Skilling's Enron Employment Agreement

David J. Phillip/Associated Press
Jeffrey Skilling, center right, arrived at the federal courthouse today where he was sentenced to 24 years, four months in the harshest sentence yet in the case that came to symbolize corporate fraud in America.
He will be forced to forfeit $45 million, which prosecutors said would effectively wipe out his fortune.

At a hearing here in United States District Court, Judge Simeon T. Lake III said of Mr. Skilling, “His crimes have imposed on hundreds, if not thousands of victims a life sentence of poverty.”

Throughout the hearing, Mr. Skilling reacted impassively. His wife sobbed uncontrollably and hid her face in her hands.

He will be allowed to remain in his home under electronic surveillance until a federal prison is selected to house him, but the judge denied his request to be released on bond pending appeal.

Mr. Skilling was convicted in May of heading a conspiracy to defraud Enron’s investors.

While the sentence of 24 years and four months was the lengthiest yet in the Enron case, it did not surpass the 25-year term that WorldCom’s former chief executive, Bernard J. Ebbers, received for being head of an $11 billion fraud that led to the bankruptcy of the long-distance company.

Mr. Ebbers’s sentence was less than the 30 years to life imprisonment called for in the sentencing guidelines.

gotta be pissing his pants.

I'm sure that's what he's thinking right now. Too bad he won't be sipping pina coladas with his buddy Kenny Boy down south.