By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 24, 2006
HOUSTON, April 23 -- When Enron Corp. founder Kenneth L. Lay takes the stand Monday in his own defense, he will try to convince jurors that what prosecutors call fraud was really the misdirected power of positive thinking.
Lay, 64, faces a half-dozen criminal charges stemming from the collapse of the Houston energy company he built. In essence, the government claims he put a misleadingly optimistic spin on Enron's mounting financial woes and urged employees to buy stock as an "incredible bargain" at the same time he knew things were unraveling.
Lay insists that he refused to dwell on problems and focused instead on good news in an honest belief that he could right the ship when it listed in late 2001. That, Lay's defense lawyers argue, is not enough to send a man to prison for what could be the rest of his life.
<snip>
Even after the collapse, many employees refused to believe that Lay had anything to do with Enron's downfall, although critics seized on disclosures that he quietly unloaded $70 million worth of Enron shares to pay personal loans at the same time he urged others to buy.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/23/AR2006042300725.html+++++++++++++++
He failed the Barnum and Bailey class that taught "You can fool some of the people some of the time but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
