This post is part of a feature in which he wonder whatever happened to some notorious financial felons. See all 17.
Jeffrey Skilling was the Enron CEO who tried to pin the blame for its 2001 bankruptcy on anyone but himself. He was not able to convince a jury, however. When Fortune raised questions about Enron in 2001, Skilling dismissed those "who want to throw rocks at us." And in a conference call with a hedge fund manager, Highfields Capital analyst Richard Grubman, who had shorted Enron stock, Skilling called Grubman an expletive beginning with the letter A.
Now, Skilling -- whose sentence was double that of other Enron convicts -- was serving a 24-year sentence in Waseca Federal Correctional Institution in Minnesota. Last month, Skilling was moved to a low-security prison in Littleton, Colo. The poor fellow will be about 74 years old when he is released in February 2028 -- that is, unless he gets pardoned by the current president, he wins an appeal, or he gets out early on parole.
Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College. His eighth book, You Can't Order Change: Lessons from Jim McNerney's Turnaround at Boeing, will be published by Portfolio on December 26, 2008.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-19-2008 @ 1:19PM
ronnie said...
PUBLIC LYNCHING WOULD BE AT MINIMUM APPROPRIATE FOR THIS DOUCHE-BAG..HE SCREWED THOUSANDS OF HARD WORKING PEOPLE OUT OF THEIR PENSIONS,,, LET THESE PEOPLE DECIDE HIS FATE,, WHY BE A BURDEN TO THE TAX PAYERS ANY FURTHER...
11-19-2008 @ 1:34PM
colette said...
HOPE HE IS RIDING THE HERSHEY HIWAY!
11-20-2008 @ 9:49AM
John said...
Pensions destroyed, colleges not attended, lives ruined. Hope the bastard never gets out of prison.
11-21-2008 @ 4:57PM
John Dupuis said...
As usual AOL is way behind on their news. Skilling has an appeal going right now, that's why he was moved to Colorado.
11-21-2008 @ 8:15PM
Gary said...
Bush should not pardon him.
11-24-2008 @ 8:44AM
Tom said...
How did the U.S. banking system get so out of control? Will those in charge be held accountable?
11-24-2008 @ 10:49AM
JOHN said...
Put him back in a maximum security prison, he needs all the BUTT LOVE he can get. It seams only appropriate that he spend the next 24 years geting screwed like the people he screwed out of their pensions.
12-04-2008 @ 9:51AM
Elaine said...
Where and why we don't hear anything about George W.Bush's brother Neil Bush?
12-05-2008 @ 8:30AM
nick said...
The man helped take alot of good folks down and to the poor house. No mercy for the greed of these people, his CEO escaped the big house by droping dead. Under the bus.
12-05-2008 @ 11:06AM
TC said...
Now that the dust has settled, many in the know believe he was railroaded. Bankruptcy experts believe Enron could have been saved but second rate politicians wanted to make an example out of them. In light of what's going on now in our economy, Skilling is far less guilty than Richard Fuld of Lehman Bro's. So pardon the guy.
12-15-2008 @ 4:12PM
Ryan said...
This is a sad story. The man had a lot of tough decisions to make. I seriously doubt many of us would have made different decisions in the moment, given the environment that had slowly formed, inside and outside of Enron. But in the end does it really matter? You get a seconds chance to show your character in this life - you don't get out alive, guaranteed, lol. Think of the people he can't see anymore, in this short space of time we all get to live in. The people he's hurt, whether directly or indirectly; imagine living with that. I think that alone is punishment enough, and maybe more than he deserves. Would you deserve the same if you were in his shoes? Don't convince yourself that he's so different from you.