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RamboLiberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 02:29 PM
Original message
Lay claims "witch hunt" brought Enron down
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2006-04-25T175443Z_01_N2573154_RTRUKOC_0_US-ENRON-TRIAL.xml&rpc=22

Enron Corp. was a victim of a "witch hunt" that unfairly criticized the giant energy company's business and drove it toward bankruptcy, former Chairman and Chief Executive Kenneth Lay testified at his criminal trial on Tuesday.

In his second day on the witness stand, Lay told the jury that in October 2001 the Wall Street Journal had reported that Enron had engaged in dubious deals through partnerships operated by Enron's former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow.

"We thought in fact the Wall Street Journal was on a witch hunt," Lay said under questioning from his lawyer George "Mac" Secrest. "We didn't have any information that Andy Fastow had done anything inappropriate."

<snip>

The Wall Street Journal articles were the first to scrutinize the Fastow partnerships, which Enron used to hide billions of dollars in debt while inflating its profits. Those articles and the intense media coverage that followed helped drive the company into its December 2001 bankruptcy, then the largest in U.S. history.

:nopity:
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ladjf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 02:34 PM
Response to Original message
1. What kind of court proceedings are they having out there?
So far, the accused have been allowed to speak freely for unlimited amounts of time. Of course Lay is going to say that he is innocent. He's been saying that all along. The question is do they have any evidence against him? If so, he and his lawyers should be showing why the evidence is incorrect.
Something isn't going right in this case. We've been waiting years to nail Lay for what appeared to be illegal actions. Now, free speeches.
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gratuitous Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 02:43 PM
Response to Reply #1
8. I presume this is his direct testimony
Which means that it's Lay's attorney who is eliciting all the sound bites and the "I'm innocent" protestations. I would love to be working at the prosecution table, taking down every last sentence Lay is speaking and assembling the rebuttal material from news stories, videos, company memoranda and everywhere else that puts the lie to Kenny Boy's self-serving verbal meanderings.

Lay's cross-examination should be a hoot and a holler.
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ladjf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 02:49 PM
Response to Reply #8
9. Sounds like you know something about court procedure. I'll
be looking forward to the cross examination.
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mrdmk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 08:01 PM
Response to Reply #9
30. This is why Kenny Boy dump Enron Stock of how many millions of Dollars
just before going down?:shrug:Even my dog knows better that that!
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Missy M Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 02:35 PM
Response to Original message
2. Oh, poor Ken Lay, it was all the fault of someone else....
and he did nothing wrong. I'm surprised he didn't blame Bill Clinton.
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90-percent Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 02:40 PM
Response to Reply #2
5. Yeah
Thought this case was a slam dunk. does Kenny Boy know the fix is in or something?

Or is the judge actually a diebold robot?

-85% Jimmy
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TomInTib Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 02:40 PM
Response to Reply #2
6. Yeah, someone else peed in Kenny-boy's pants.
Always someone else's fault with those guys.
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efhmc Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 09:23 PM
Response to Reply #2
35. Early days yet.
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dailykoff Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 02:39 PM
Response to Original message
3. I think he's blaming Martha Stewart (n/t)
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The_Casual_Observer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 02:39 PM
Response to Original message
4. The prisons are occupied exclusively by innocent men. Just ask them.
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underpants Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 02:53 PM
Response to Reply #4
10. Yeah especially the ones that the WSJ busts
I know that he isn't turning on the WSJ op-ed pages (boy would that be a bit of cannabalism) but it is funny that he faults news reporting on his own misdeeds as a "Witch hunt". Too funny.

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bdamomma Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 02:41 PM
Response to Original message
7. Lay who is George's best friend
is a liar just like george.
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SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 02:54 PM
Response to Original message
11. Sometimes witch hunts find a ....WITCH... (or warlock, as the case may be)
He & the guys cooked up a pretty toxic brew and the hunters found it..and them :)
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Uncle Joe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 03:39 PM
Response to Reply #11
17. The only way we can find out for sure, is to dunk Lay under water,
Edited on Tue Apr-25-06 03:41 PM by Uncle Joe
if he drowns, he is not a witch, but if he breathes water, we need to burn the bastard.:evilgrin: Now where the hell did I put my pitchfork?
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aquart Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 09:56 PM
Response to Reply #11
37. Warlock means oath breaker.
Which makes it ever so appropriate in this case, but a nasty thing to call a witch whose name is derived from the same indoeuropean root that yields economy...as being one responsible for the prosperity and well-being of the community.
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Ratty Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 03:11 PM
Response to Original message
12. Let's play those phone recordings again ...
Witchhunt I tell you! It's so unfair!

"Just cut 'em off. They're so fucked. They should just bring back fucking horses and carriages, fucking lamps, fucking kerosene lamps."

"All the money you guys stole from those poor grandmothers in California?"

"Yeah, Grandma Millie man.

"Yeah, now she wants her fucking money back for all the power you've charged right up, jammed right up her ass for fucking $250 a megawatt hour."


Ahh those poor Enron boys. I feel so sorry for them.
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pacalo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 06:02 PM
Response to Reply #12
20. Yes! Not long before a millionaire Rep. paid for a Davis recall.
Edited on Tue Apr-25-06 06:02 PM by 8_year_nightmare
And then Ahnold stepped in. (Ahnold, be careful what you wish for in the future.)
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Akoto Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 03:15 PM
Response to Original message
13. Oh, so he's using the right wing mantra ...
"It's that OTHER guy's fault."
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cliss Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 03:30 PM
Response to Original message
14. I believe Ken Lay has always said this -
the media attacked Enron, and brought it down. He simply doesn't feel he did anything wrong. Jeffrey Skilling says the same thing: it was the media, not us.

This is a classic case of "break the law, as long as you don't get caught".

And the truth be told, Ken Lay started Enron about 30 years ago. He started a small energy company in Kansas (?). It's probably always been corrupt, so he correctly feels like, "Why now?"
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pacalo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 06:05 PM
Response to Reply #14
21. Maybe the feds need to delve into that Kansas co.'s records, as well.
How many in Kansas were screwed?
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DemoTex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 08:05 PM
Response to Reply #14
32. Actually, Lay merged Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth in 1985.
Edited on Tue Apr-25-06 08:10 PM by DemoTex
The new company, based in Houston, was called Enron. At first, Enron was primarily a gas transmission company (gas pipelines). Over the years, Lay diversified Enron's business and the rest is history. Prior to 1985, Lay was the president of Transco (Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Corporation) in Houston. That's where I worked for him as a corporate pilot. Prior to Transco, Lay was an executive with Florida Gas (as were Jack Bowen, the Transco CEO, and Linda Lay, Ken's second and current wife).

On edit: InterNorth was based in Omaha, Nebraska. After the merger the Enron headquarters was Houston, Tx.



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acmavm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 09:27 PM
Response to Reply #32
36. I worked for an InterNorth Company when all this happened. There are
some pretty goofy stories that come out of that HNG/InterNorth merger but one of the funniest ones was when they were thinking of a name for the new and improved corporate entity, some whizbang came up with Enteron. We had stationary, envelopes, the whole nine yards.
Here is Dictionary.com's definition of enteron.

en·ter·on ( P ) Pronunciation Key (nt-rn)
n.
The alimentary canal; the intestines.

Needless to say, shitloads of paper went into the dumpster.

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DemoTex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-26-06 08:33 AM
Response to Reply #36
39. I remember that! Enteron!
How appropriate.
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Bridget Burke Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-26-06 10:40 AM
Response to Reply #32
42. A friend "temped" during the merger....
She was appalled that seasoned employees were being fired so young fools could take their places. And she thought some of the financial practices were a bit "informal."

They offered her a permanent job at Enron. She didn't take it.

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stepnw1f Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 03:33 PM
Response to Original message
15. the Dumb Dumb Defense Hello Mr. Victim
in case you didn't already know this, but every criminal claims to be innocent even after the verdict.
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SpiralHawk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 03:33 PM
Response to Original message
16. Whine, Whine, Whine -- that's all corrupt republicons do
They steal from the citizens of America, and then whine when they get caught.

Cry me a frikking river.
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SKKY Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 03:44 PM
Response to Original message
18. The media brought down Enron???
Edited on Tue Apr-25-06 03:44 PM by ALiberalSailor
Oh, and I thought all this time it was the hundreds of phony companies they were paying money to that did it. Boy, I sure am glad Ken cleared that up for me.
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6000eliot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 09:08 PM
Response to Reply #18
34. Isn't THAT a familiar story?
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tenshi816 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 04:04 PM
Response to Original message
19. Ever notice that people like Lay -
and Republicans in general for that matter - always blame the media for calling attention to their misdeeds? As if the very act of reportage is the problem, not that they were breaking the law in the first place? If they were as pure as they claimed, then nothing would have come of hard questions being asked about Enron business practices.

Look at all the media coverage of Bill Clinton, because if ever there was a media witch hunt it happened during his administration. Clinton was hounded nonstop for eight years solid by both the Republicans and the media, and the only thing that stuck was Monica's blue dress. There wasn't anything else they could bring him down with, and yet he still never exhibited the kind of whiny behavior we're seeing with Lay and Skilling (or the Preznit or Tom DeLay or...well, any other Republican accused of a crime).

It's not the crime, it's the calling attention to it.

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pacalo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 06:25 PM
Response to Reply #19
24. That's why, in Lay's mind, calling it a witch hunt would vindicate him
in the higher echelon of the GOP: 'See, GOP? I haven't done anything wrong -- it's political! It's the Democrats' doing! They're using the same number on me that you used on Clinton to try to take him down!'
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Ilsa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 06:10 PM
Response to Original message
22. So ENRON wanted the stockholders to hold tight and hope and pray
they weren't left holding the bag with worthless stock after the news came out? Wait a minute. Didn't Lay and Fastow and these bozos dump their shares?
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Ecumenist Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 06:22 PM
Response to Original message
23. Yeah, right, sure it did Kenny boy..
If that's the case, why don't you get those hardworking people who lost everything so that you and your buddies could buy 5000.00 shower curtains? I'm sure in a face to face meeting, they'll be understanding and forgiving when they hear your explanation firsthand and face to face.

It was them damn witches who conjured up the recordings of your traders, the minutes of the those secret meetings, the false statements about the actual profit margins and value of enron, the theft of the hundreds of millions of dollars from me and mine in MY STATE...California and the laughing your consultants did, placing people at risk by purposely restricting energy and raising the price we paid on the electricity that we'd produced through the roof and innumerable other things that I am not recalling at this point. All of this was done against you, because you're a fine, upstanding Christian. It was them witches and the hunt for them that brought you down.:sarcasm:
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Rex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 06:29 PM
Response to Original message
25. Whatever perp

Criminals will say and do anything to keep from going to jail.
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superconnected Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 06:31 PM
Response to Original message
26. And all this time I thought it was skillings girlfriend.
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lovuian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 06:34 PM
Response to Original message
27. Why do they bring in the witches ???
They can't keep being the excuses for everything...
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Blue_Tires Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 07:42 PM
Response to Original message
28. hmmm...how strange!
I thought he'd blame the lax atmosphere brought about by the clinton years!:sarcasm:
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sweetheart Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 07:52 PM
Response to Original message
29. Which hunt? The hunt for malfesiance.
Stupid fool...
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rustydog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 08:03 PM
Response to Original message
31. well yeah, we caught the witches and they get to burn
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madmark Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 08:59 PM
Response to Original message
33.  a drop in a corp's stock price from bad press does not normally implode
a corp. Unless of the course the corp.'s business is leveraging its own stock price, which is what Enron did with the off balance sheet partnership arrangements. If the corp was actually generating net profit from its operations, the bad press would be a temporary blip on the valuation of that earnings stream. The problem for Enron was that it was operating at a loss while falsely representing to the markets that it was generating positive earnings. Truth is a bitch Ken. I can only imagine the cross examination fodder being accumulated on this direct.
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leesa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Apr-25-06 09:57 PM
Response to Original message
38. Can these fools never think of anything original...witch hunt..sheesh!
Same old GOP talking points at each and every thug trial.
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0007 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-26-06 10:00 AM
Response to Original message
40. Just some bad apples. "A Few bad Apples" ruined Kenny 'Boy"
Give me a break.
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ckramer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-26-06 10:33 AM
Response to Original message
41. Send the Bush pal Kenneth Lay to jail!
Most Americans would love to see that happened!
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