Enron's Jeff Skilling will be resentenced after conviction is upheld

A Louisiana appeals court upheld former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's convctions, but ordered that he be resentenced because the judge made errors in applying sentencing guidelines.

According (subscription required) to The Wall Street Journal, "The ruling likely means Mr. Skilling will see several years shaved off his current sentence of 24 years and four months." A former federal prosecutor told that newspaper that he expects that Skilling's sentence could be cut as much as nine years. A sentence of less than fifteen years would give Skilling quite a few years of life after the pokey, if he can keep his weight down and stay healthy: He looked a little bloated last I saw him.

Mr. Skilling's lawyer expressed disappointment with the ruling and vowed to fight his conviction all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary. With issues of accounting fraud and corporate malfeasance back in sharp focus with the collapse of several financial institutions and the unraveling of the largest Ponzi scheme in history, Skilling's timing could not be any worse.