Former Enron Corporation chief executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were convicted Thursday on conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud in a case resulting from one of the biggest business scandals in U.S. history. The verdict put the blame for the downfall of what was once the country's seventh-largest company squarely on its top two executives. It came on the sixth day of jury deliberations following a Houston, Texas trial that lasted nearly four months. Lay was convicted on all six counts against him. Lay also was convicted of bank fraud and making false statements to banks in a separate trial related to his personal banking. Skilling was convicted on 19 of the 28 counts against him, including one count of conspiracy, 17 counts of fraud and making false statements, and one count of insider trading. He faces up to 185 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Sim Lake told jurors, “you have reflected on this evidence for the last few days and reached a very thorough verdict, and I thank you.” He set sentencing for September 11. The former corporate giants are now convicted felons facing many years in prison after the jury found them guilty of running an elaborate and complex fraud that gave the energy-trading company a glamorous illusion of success. Jurors declared through their verdict that both Lay and Skilling repeatedly lied to cover a vast web of unsustainable accounting tricks and failing ventures that pushed Enron into bankruptcy in late 2001.
