Enron's Lay Accuses Fellow Exec

[Rose Siding]

(AP) Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay describes his return to CEO just months before the energy company's collapse in terms that make him sound like he was a student cramming for a final after letting others do the coursework.

"Throughout that whole period, a lot of information was flowing to me from a lot of different sources," he said.

Lay contends he was clueless about fraud at Enron when he retook the reins of the company in mid-August 2001, after the abrupt resignation of his protege, former CEO Jeffrey Skilling. He also says that even as he was being warned about questionable activities, he was working hard — and legally — attempting to straighten out the company's financial problems.

Convincing a jury of that may prove to be crucial if he hopes to avoid a long prison term, since federal prosecutors are alleging that when the longtime Enron chairman regained the CEO's title, he took the reins of a long-standing conspiracy to fool investors and regulators into believing the company was healthy.
...
"It looks like Fastow was the mastermind of all of it," Lay said. "And again, he apparently did a pretty good job of selecting those he wanted involved in it. But we're more likely to think there was bad activity going on very close to him than anywhere else in the company."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/16/national/main623569.shtml

[bowens43]

1. Typical republican

everyone is responsible except him. Pathetic.

[murielm99]

13. He will find a way to say that

Clinton did it!

[colonel odis]

22. that is so so so so so so true.

the party of personal responsibility in action.

[RoBear]

2. It's the new Bush Mantra..

"The buck stops somewhere over there."

[Myrina]

7. "The buck stops in an offshore bank account ...

... we're just not sure exactly how it got there ... " :eyes:

[DemoTex]

3. "It looks like Fastow was the mastermind of all of it"

Bwaa-haa-haa-haa! Meanwhile Fastow, down at the Federal Court building in Houston, sings like a bird to protect his own ass and sink Ken Lay. Fastow's wife, a prominent River Oaks socialite, reported to prison a few days ago. She has a year to do. Fastow might have ten. They have young children. Fastow will fuck Lay in a second for time-off sentence. Mark my word. Local prosecutors want Lay. They know, however, that Lay will be pardoned by his buddy Bu$h. Hell, he paid good money for that pardon.

[atreides1]

5. "...Lay will be pardoned by his buddy Bu$h."

I don't think so, if Lay had anything on Bush he would not have been indicted. I think that Asscrash made sure that Kenny Boy didn't have any embarrassing stories to tell about old GW and the family.

Fastow will sing and Kenny will be locked up.

[tinanator]

9. you are DREAMING!!!!!

Why do you think this is proceeding now? BECAUSE BUSH MIGHT LOSE! And the window of opportunity for a pardon or whitewash could slam shut in months. I cant believe anyone thinks this King of corporate clowns will do time.

[Union Thug]

4. I love watching them eat their own!

Come on, Kenny boy, show us what a man you are. Take some responsibility. You won't. You're like every other slimy, elitist rich man: a pussy. Go F* yourself!

[UpInArms]

6. Lay was a deputy treasurer and director at the World Bank

http://www.centralbanking.co.uk/conferences/speakers_bio.htm

Kenneth G. Lay

Kenneth Lay is the deputy treasurer and director at the World Bank in Washington D.C. Prior to joining the Bank in 1982, he was an attorney with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, where he headed its branch of Corporation Finance Enforcement. In 1991 he was named director of Financial Operations Department of Treasury and in 1996 appointed director of the Southeastern Europe Department. In 1997 he became director of the country teams for Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus in ECA, and a year later led the Financial Sector Practice as its director and chair, designing the Financial Sector Assessment Programme together with the IMF's Monetary and Exchange Affairs Department. He rejoined the Bank's finance complex as deputy treasurer in 1999.

He didn't need Fastow - he trained him to do just what he wanted him to do.

[Rose Siding]

8. I had no idea he'd worked at the SEC

Heading Corporate Finance Enforcement, no less.

[struggle4progress]

24. Well, then, he had the skills to clean up Enron ...

... if he had wanted to.

[sandnsea]

12. IS with the World Bank???

The deputy treasurer and director? Does this mean, like, NOW??? And he has been since 1982?? Good god, no wonder that place is such a nightmare. He's screwed over the entire world.

[Joanne98]

15. Really

The World Bank is the loan shark, the IMF is the mafia hit-man who collects the money. HELL is too good.........

[TahitiNut]

16. That's not the same Ken Lay.

[sandnsea]

17. Well good

I was having images of the Iraq loans that bought the WMD's and bankrupt countries and everything else around the world. It would almost be sweet if it was the same Ken Lay, but I can't even imagine the fall out. Too horrifying to contemplate.

Thanks.

[UpInArms]

18. you're right - that was not the same guy - here's the right one

http://makeashorterlink.com/?O14B62EC8

A native of Missouri, Lay was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate in economics from the University of Missouri, where he also received a master’s degree in economics. Upon graduation, he began his career in 1965 as a corporate economist with Exxon Company, U.S.A. Subsequently, he earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Houston.

Lay served as an officer in the U.S. Navy, and held the positions of Technical Assistant to a Commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Deputy Under Secretary for Energy of the U.S. Department of Interior. Additionally, while in Washington, Lay was an assistant professor at George Washington University, teaching graduate courses in micro- and macro-economic theory and Government-business relations.

Currently, Lay serves on the Board of Directors of Compaq Computer Corporation, Eli Lilly and Company, and Trust Company of the West. He is a member of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development, The Business Council, the National Petroleum Council, and the American Enterprise Institute. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment. Previous key roles have included serving as chairman of the Greater Houston Partnership, the University of Houston Board of Regents, the Houston Host Committee for the 1992 Republican National Convention, and co-chairman of the 1990 Houston Economic Summit Host Committee.

(edited for typo)

[cliss]

19. OMG! This is now?

It can't be. After all the damage he did to all those employees at Enron. UIA: what is the time frame for Ken Lay's tenure at the World Bank. I'd really like to know.

In the meantime, I'll check Google.

[quaoar]

10. If Lay sings like a canary

and tells everything he knows about the crimes that Bush has committed, then I say President Kerry should give him not only a pardon, but a Presidential Medal of Freedom for outstanding service to his country.

[leftofthedial]

11. the securities fraud they committed was a horrible crime, but

it pales next to the evil perpetrated as SOP--raping California, keeping energy supply scarce . . . their entire industry was a corrupt, evil congame.

[Joanne98]

14. HAHA

"Throughout that whole period, a lot of information was flowing to me from a lot of different sources," he said.

How VAGUE. Sounds like Corp. language to me. He's a liar. Not one ounce of pity for his victims.

[Mike Niendorff]

20. IOW : "Out of the loop".

(hey, it worked for Junior's daddy)


MDN

[Zorra]

21. Hmmm...

These guys are forensic accountants. This is their take - wonder what Mr. Lay would respond to their assessment:

Learning from the Enron Case
By Steven D. Grossman, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Texas A&M University; Nicholas G. Apostolou, DBA, DABFA, Cr.FA, CPA, Louisiana State University, Department of Accounting; and D. Larry Crumbley, Ph.D., DABFA, Cr.FA, CPA, Louisiana State University, Department of Accounting

When Jeffrey K. Skilling suddenly resigned on Aug. 14, 2001, a clear red flag, the company’s chairman, Kenneth L. Lay, retook the job saying, “absolutely no accounting issue, no trading issue, no reserve issue, no previously unknown problem issues” were behind the departure. On Aug. 21, Mr. Lay sent an e-mail to employees, reassuring them about the stability of the company and concluding, “one of my highest priorities is to restore investor confidence in Enron. This should result in a significantly higher stock price.”

On Aug. 22, Ms. Sherron Watkins, a vice president of corporate development, met with Mr. Lay and gave him a seven-page letter in which she said that Enron may be an “elaborate accounting hoax.” In an online chat with employees on Sept. 26, Mr. Lay said that Enron stock is a good buy and that the company’s accounting methods are “legally and totally appropriate.”

On Oct. 16, Enron reported a third-quarter loss of $618 million. One day later, the company reduced shareholder equity by $1.2 billion to account for transactions involving Enron and some partnerships created by Andrew S. Fastow, Enron’s chief financial officer. On Oct. 22, the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an inquiry into the partnerships. On Oct. 23, in a conference call, Mr. Lay reassured investors that there was no conflict of interest resulting from the transactions with the partnerships. Directors, he stated, “continue to have the highest faith and confidence” in Mr. Fastow. The next day, Mr. Fastow was fired.
(more)
http://www.acfei.com/ce-enron-case.php

[DemoTex]

23. Who could have nailed Lay, Fastow, Skillings, and Bu$h? One man.

Cliff Baxter. At 2:23 in the morning of January 25, 2002, J. Clifford Baxter was found dead in his automobile by the Sugar Land, Texas police. He had been Baxtered by rat-shot to the head in a bizarre situation in Tom Delay's home roach-nest of Sugarland, Texas (once a scene of a film with the delicious Goldie Hawn). Let's bring up Baxter. Let's push the verb Baxtered.

[Pachamama]

26. I remember that...wasn't it a Mercedes 500 SEL and was highly suspicious?

What ever became of that investigation? :think:

Kinda like OJ's search for the real killers, eh?

[President Jesus]

25. They're both GOP scum and bigtime contributors

Ken Lay
Andrew Fastow

and there's also Jeffrey Skilling