ENRON Heads....Convicted!

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/plays "Hallelujah" on the kazoo

Today, former Enron weasel Jeffrey Skilling was found guilty on 19 counts of conspiracy, fraud, false statements and insider trading. His boss, Ken Lay, was found guilty on ten counts of conspiracy, fraud, and false statements. Apparently rich guys with good lawyers can occasionally be convicted of white collar crime after all. After the TYCO business I didn't think it was possible. Thank god all the former ENRON employees who got screwed by these greedy bastards are finally getting some justice.

linky

 

Ah, that just gives you the warm and fuzzy feeling all over. I actually didn't need a trial and a verdict to *know* they were guilty, but as DR said, it is at least somewhat surprising that they were actually convicted.

 

The only downside to this is the (in my opinion) very high likelyhood that Bush will, sometime before January 2009, give his personal friend and hefty campaign contributor Ken Lay a presidential pardon. Porobably Skilling, too.

So justice still has a chance of not being served. But the prospect of these men spending their last days dying on a cold cement prison floor is enough to keep one optimistic. That may sound cold, but as a former Houstonian, both Chandos and I personally know people who had their entire life savings (at the behest of ENRON executives) dumped into ENRON stock, and literally thousands of people had their lives ruined so these already extremely wealthy *ssholes could line their pockets even further.

 

Two things need to happen to make the justice complete:
1) Send them to Leavenworth instead of that cushy white collar country club prison, and

2) Kick Linda Lay into the street, sell all their property, and distribute the proceeds to the former employees.

 

Which is why people in power need to face soical law rather in jural law. The powerful maybe able to circumvent the jural system, but they sure as hell can't cicumvent vigilantism. Guaranteed issues arise with social law inregards to control, but a lack of control is no worse then those who have ruined thousands of lives using the system to escape justice.

Utilitarian law, those who hurt the majority need to be put in a position where they aren't likely to bring harm to the majority again. I don't mean brutally beating them to death as that is disgusting, but in the passion of the moment driving them out of society, so their crimes aren't forgotten in the passing years allowing them to reenter society.

 

Good. I've always felt that white-collar crime is at least as serious as street crime (for the reasons that DR has explained), and it's good to see the people who were supposed to be overseeing things - rather than stuffing their pockets - being held accountable. What they've done is at least as bad as murder; they've destroyed the livelihoods of thousands, and for clearly selfish reasons.

I hope they have a long, long time to face the consequences of what they have done.

I hope not, although I can see that it may happen. The Republicans can kiss the White House goodbye in that case (although if Bush times it right, that won't be until 2013). And if you can impeach a president for lying about getting blowjobs from an intern, then surely you can go after another for openly subverting justice to help a financial contributor.

 

I'm not sure I can go that far. These people are clearly a threat to society, but not in the same way as a serial rapist or murderer. What I think would be a more appropriate punishment is to put them to work. They will never be able to pay back all the money they took even if they live to be 1000, but by forcing them to pay back as much as they can would be a good start.

 

Score one for justice. As a CPA I've been following this case/trial and it would have taken a whole lot of morons in the jury to believe that the top guys didn't know what was going on or didn't organize the entire debacle.

As to Bush pardoning them, I don't see that happening.

 

It wouldn't suprise me a bit if that happens. I think it would fit perfectly in picture of what seems to be an American morale.

 

Well, if it happens you may be correct. However, if it doesn't be prepared to change your opinion of American morals.

 

I just can't see that happening. I'm no fan of the Bush administration, nor do I think very highly of the America we get painted in our media, but I can't believe Bush would be stupid enough to do such a thing, or that the American people would let him get away with it if he tried to.

 

That's the thing about Presidential pardons - nobody can do anything about it. One of the few things that I hated about Clinton was that he pardoned a bunch of felons a week before he left office. Nobody could criticize or question him for it, and there was no risk of his approval taking a hit given the timing. In fact, it barely made a blip in the news because of the inauguration, and all the controversy about the Florida recount was still fresh in the news.

At the end of the day, Bush really has no reason NOT to pardon him, especially if done on the way out the door. Not like he has this sparkling legacy to protect or anything.

@ Anjo

Don't judge a country by it's @sshole politicians. It's phenominally short-sighted.

 

Bush & co have already lied about far worse things than subverting justice (I'm not going into details - that belongs in AoLS), and they've got away with it. If he decides to fork out presidential pardons for his Enron friends, no one can do a thing about it.
Still, it's refreshing to see the trial has gone through to its logical and unavoidable conclusion. With everything that's been happening the last few years I really expected them to get away with it and the whole story to be quietly buried. I'm glad this wasn't the case.

Never understimate the Power of the Bush. For all we know he might be paving the way for his brother to take over the presidency