See here! Skilling was found guilty of 19 counts (incl. conspiracy, fraud, false statements and insider trading). Lay was found guilty on 6 counts (fraud and conspiracy).
I imagine both men will make model prisoners, although Lay might be the better prisoner, since he is very good at closing his eyes to bad things and ignoring signs of trouble. (We are talking about potentially *decades* in jail, as we all know. I will be curious to see how that plays out. For the record, I do not think inmate attire is fitted for cuff-links, such that Lay might want to leave his trademark ‘links at home. Or perhaps he will pawn them to pay for his appeals. . .or fines of some sort . . . or recompense to his investors. . . .)
John Hueston, the prosecutor, made a statement a short while ago in which he said two things in particular that caught my attention:
1. He said something about the verdict proving that a CEO cannot just *not* ask questions. (Forgive the double negative, but one of the compelling points for the jury, in the prosecutor’s eyes, was that Lay failed, in part, by not pushing for information – not asking questions – ignoring the red flag information that was right in his lap – not acting in good faith! See here and here for my “Not in Good Faith” manifesto. Who would have thought that the same sort of the fundamental failings that trouble me about director behavior would translate so well (relatively speaking) to the criminal context when dealing with officers?)
2. In addition, Mr. Hueston emphasized that it is no longer acceptable to hide behind lawyers and accountants. I sure *hope* so! I wonder how long it will be before we have multiple sets of outside lawyers and accountants reviewing financials to ensure that nobody is hiding behind anyone. I see this as akin to when Boards started demanding their own counsel, apart from the GC and apart from the outside corporate counsel. I, for one, would be DELIGHTED if multiple layers of accounting and legal review turn out to be a short-term impact of today’s verdict. Even if the costs are duplicative and significant, those costs are still LESS than the cost to investors of another Enron-esque catastrophe.
