All it takes is a little patience. F. Scott Yeager, a former Enron executive, got some good news from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, which ruled that it wouldn't revisit his case. So, he no longer has criminal charges related to financial fraud hanging over him. Yeager has been acquitted on all counts. This follows a June ruling by the Supreme Court, which tossed a previous 5th Circuit Court ruling that could have resulted in a new trial.

The ruling said, "Today, ... it is clear under our initial ... analysis the jury made a finding in acquitting Yeager that precludes prosecution on insider trading and money laundering." Samuel Buffone, who was one of Yeager's attorneys, stated that his client shouldn't have been indicted to begin with and didn't do anything wrong. It has taken them seven years to get to this point.

Yeager landed in hot water because he sold stock in Enron for more than $54 million before it began the plunge that would ultimately end with its bankruptcy in 2001. He faced 125 counts, was acquitted of five (four for wire fraud and one for conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud) and wound up with a hung jury for the remaining 120, which included insider trading and money laundering. He was later indicted again on 13 counts of insider trading and money laundering.

Continue reading Former Enron exec set free

Former Enron exec set free originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Enron's Jeff Skilling will be resentenced after conviction is upheld originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Enron's Jeff Skilling has a good chance on appeal? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 02 Apr 2008 18:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Jeff Skilling's been arrogant and too talkative since the beginning of the Enron fiasco (testifying before Congress when everyone else took the 5th). Now he's behind bars, but he still won't go away.

In October, Skilling was sentenced to 24 years in prison after being convicted on 19 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading, and lying to auditors.

Now he wants a new trial. According to the Associated Press Daniel Petrocelli filed an appeal today with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. He wrote that:

Profound, inherent weaknesses in the government's case not just gaps in its evidentiary proof, but doubts about its basic theories of criminality motivated the government to resort to novel and incorrect legal theories, demand truncated and unfair trial procedures, and use coercive and abusive tactics.

In order to believe that Skilling is innocent of any wrongdoing, you essentially have to buy that former CFO Andy Fastow went deep into the bowels of Enron and cooked the books all by himself -- and no one knew about it. You also have to think that Skilling decided to dump shares of Enron because of his uncertainty surrounding the events of September 11th -- 5 days before it happened. Move over Nostradamus! Free Jeff Skilling! The CIA can use him to predict the next terrorist attack!

There's no question that the Enron Task Force made some pretty boneheaded blunders in its pursuit of justice, and maybe Skilling should and will get a new trial. But he belongs in jail, and hopefully that's where he stays for a long time.

Enron's Jeff Skilling files appeal originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 07 Sep 2007 17:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is written as part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst of 2006. Vote for it as the Money Story of the Year or check out the other nominees in the category.

The demise of Enron will likely turn out to be the biggest business story of the decade -- maybe even the century. The once $60 billion market cap energy trading giant dissolved into worthlessness in an ugly morass of accounting fraud and human greed in late 2001.

But 2006 was the year in the long, sad saga that some justice was finally meted out to Enron's top executives. Former chief executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling were both convicted in the spring on charges including securities fraud, making false statements, and conspiracy. Enron's former chief financial officer Andrew Fastow was sentenced to six years in jail after he pleaded guilty to several charges of securities fraud and agreed to testify against his former bosses.

But the Enron story continued to provide shocking twists, even at this stage. Ken Lay died suddenly of a heart attack in July. BloggingStocks readers not only doubted that he had died of natural causes (many suspected suicide), but others doubted he had died at all.

Lay's conviction was vacated in October because he died before his sentencing. That seems to have preserved his wealth for his heirs.

Jeff Skilling was sentenced to 24 years in jail in late October. When we wrote about the sentence, 64% of readers responding to a poll said the jail time was too short. Skilling, at his sentencing, continued to profess his innocence.

Best & Worst: Enron's ugly end game: Skilling's sentencing, Lay's untimely death originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 14 Dec 2006 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yesterday's 24 year jail sentence for former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling reminded me of a question that popped into my mind four years ago: Was Harvard University an unindicted co-conspirator in Enron's rise and fall?

I first noticed all of Enron's Harvard connections back in June 2002 while Enron was still winding down. It was then that Enron announced the resignation of Herbert S. Winokur Jr., chairman and chief executive of Capricorn Holdings Inc. of Greenwich, Connecticut, from Enron's board on which he had served since 1985. Winokur's resignation drew my attention to the many ties between Harvard and Enron.

Enron's collapse was also the inspiration for my book, Value Leadership, which highlighted eight Value Leaders, including The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV), and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), which earn superior returns for shareholders -- growing revenues 35% faster, earning 109% higher profit margins and increasing shareholder value at five times the rate of their peers between June 1992 and June 2002 -- by following seven principles that are the antithesis of those that Skilling used to manage Enron.

How did Harvard help Enron?

Continue reading Enron's Harvard connections

Enron's Harvard connections originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 24 Oct 2006 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It was a long time coming, but today's Enron verdict -- Ken Lay guilty on all six counts, Jeff Skilling guilty on 19 of the 28 counts he faced -- is a victory for all shareholders. Now it looks like these bozos are going to jail for a long, long time and they deserve it.

The thing is, I really thought they  might get off. Lay in particular seemed to be doing a good job acting like he wasn't party to the financial fraud. But now they are convicted felons and we see real proof that top executives can't get off while their lieutenants (many of whom have already pled guilty and served time) take all the heat.

The U.S. legal system doesn't always work and it takes a long time for the wheels of justice to turn. But in this case, at long last, the system worked.

The damage to the financial markets that was done back in late 2001 when Enron imploded still hasn't healed. There are other corporate scandals still simmering and more, no doubt, will surface.

But at least for today, investors can digest news of justice being done, breathe a sign of relief, and return to the markets with renewed confidence.

Enron: Guilty verdict is a victory for investors originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 25 May 2006 12:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.