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Kenneth Lee Lay


Self Description

Third-Party Descriptions

September 2008: "Flash forward 20 years to the corporate scandals that exploded during the summer of 2002. Deregulatory fervor had enabled thieving executives at Enron Corp. -- supposedly the very model of the modern enterprise and the symbol of privatization -- to swindle stockholders, drive up electricity costs and forestall any action by government to protect the public. As the company plunged toward insolvency and ruin, taking thousands of innocent employees with it, Kenneth Lay, free-market exponent and donor to dozens of right-wing organizations, tried to get his cronies in the Bush White House and Treasury Department to save him. But while they had done plenty of favors for him, they did not dare step forward at that point."

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2008/09/19/market/index.html

August 2006: "Kenneth Lee "Ken" Lay (April 15, 1942 – July 5, 2006), was an American businessman, best known for his role in the widely-reported corruption scandal that led to the downfall of Enron Corporation. Lay and Enron became synonymous with corporate abuse and accounting fraud when the scandal broke in 2001. Lay was the CEO and chairman of Enron from 1986 until his resignation on January 23, 2002, except for a few months in 2001 when he was chairman and Jeffrey Skilling was CEO."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Lay - 55k - Aug 16, 2006

August 2006: Federal prosecutors say Jeffrey K. Skilling, the former Enron chief executive, is liable not only for his own ill-gotten gains but also for those of the late Kenneth L. Lay.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/business/businessspecial3/15enron.html

July 2006: Centuries of jurisprudence and a key court ruling in Texas two years ago will make it hard for prosecutors to overcome the bedrock legal principle that will likely erase the fraud conviction of former Enron CEO Ken Lay, who died Wednesday.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2006-07-06-parsons-lay-usat_x.htm?csp=34

January 2002: former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Enron, major contributor to President George W. Bush's campaigns for Texas governor and president.

Relationships

RoleNameTypeLast Updated
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) Enron Corp. Organization
Financial Supporter of (past or present) Friend (past or present) President George W. Bush Person Aug 17, 2006
Supervisor of (past or present) Andrew S. Fastow Person Sep 8, 2006
Supervisor of (past or present) Jeffrey K. Skilling Person Aug 17, 2006

Articles and Resources

37 Articles and Resources. Go to:  [Previous 20]

Date Fairness.com Resource Read it at:
May 19, 2002 When Insiders' Sales Are a Long-Term Plan

QUOTE: ...a 19-month-old Securities and Exchange Commission regulation. It allows a corporate insider to trade shares at any time, regardless of share prices or secret knowledge of a company's prospects, as long as the trades conform to a prearranged formula or schedule.

 New York Times
May 13, 2002 Enron Inquiry Now Focusing on Valuations

QUOTE: The Securities and Exchange Commission is stepping up its investigation of the Enron Corporation by questioning the company about its recent disclosure that it may have overstated the value of its assets by up to $24 billion...

 New York Times
May 01, 2002 The Enron Effect: Scandal As Sequel

QUOTE: A retrospective on past business crises that asks, Can old ideas prevent new scandals?

 Fast Company
Mar 25, 2002 As Enron Irregularities Mount, Outside Law Firm Subtly Tries to Deflect, and Reassign, Blame

QUOTE: Vinson & Elkins carried on that same theme set out by Reasoner -- that its lawyers did a lot of work, $150 million over five years, but not enough to have a full picture of Enron's finances.

 Washington Post
Mar 03, 2002 Wait a Minute. Didn't Enron's Employees Ride That Stock UPC

QUOTE: Why are Enron's employees, who helped perpetrate one of the great corporate frauds of all time...deserving of reparations...

 Washington Post
Mar 01, 2002 Enron Paid Huge Bonuses in '01; Experts See a Motive for Cheating

QUOTE: The Enron Corporation (news/quote) paid its executives huge one-time bonuses last year as a reward for hitting a series of stock-price targets ending in 2000 — the very time, investigators now say, when corporate officials were improperly inflating the company's profits by as much as a billion dollars.

 New York Times
Mar 01, 2002 Top G.O.P. Donors in Energy Industry Met Cheney Panel

QUOTE: Eighteen of the energy industry's top 25 financial contributors to the Republican Party advised Vice President Dick Cheney's national energy task force last year...

 New York Times
Feb 15, 2002 Not Quite a Whistle-Blower

QUOTE: [Sherron Watkins] "...did not want to hasten the demise of the corporation. In truth, Enron's only hope for survival was for someone like Ms. Watkins or Jeffrey McMahon...to go public with their concerns as early as possible."

 New York Times
Feb 12, 2002 Business Versus Biznes

QUOTE: ...the term "biznesmen" (pronounced "beeznessmen") refers to the class of sudden new rich who emerged after the fall of Communism — and who generally got rich by using their connections to strip away the assets of public enterprises.

 New York Times
Feb 11, 2002 Ex-Chief of Enron Will Not Testify Before Congress

QUOTE: Kenneth L. Lay, Enron's former chairman, exercising his right to avoid incriminating himself, has decided not to testify before Congress on Tuesday about the company's collapse...

 New York Times
Feb 10, 2002 Blowing the Whistle

QUOTE: ...most corporate tattletales are not as fortunate as Watkins. More often than not, company gadflies are, quietly and privately, fired. No congressional hearings, no public uproar, just termination.

 Washington Post
Jan 21, 2002 Enron Chief Says His Sale of Stock Was to Pay Loans

QUOTE: Kenneth L. Lay, the chairman and chief executive of the Enron Corporation (news/quote), repeatedly used millions of dollars in Enron stock to repay loans made to him by the company last year as Enron shares declined in value, his lawyer said today.

 New York Times
Jan 18, 2002 A System Corrupted

QUOTE: Enron's byzantine network of 3,000 subsidiaries and partnerships — one for every seven employees — made a mockery both of accounting rules and of rules against insider trading.

 New York Times
Jan 18, 2002 S.E.C. Leader Sees Outside Monitors for Auditing Firms

QUOTE: ...the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed today that the accounting industry should be policed by a group dominated by outside experts instead of policing itself.

 New York Times
Jan 15, 2002 Crony Capitalism, U.S.A.

QUOTE: ...energy companies retain the administration's ear...Each of these decisions was worth billions to companies with very strong connections to Mr. Bush.

 New York Times
Jan 15, 2002 A Time for Outrage . . .

QUOTE: "I am unaware of any evidence that supports the allegation there was improper selling by members of the board or senior management," Bennett said. But "improper" is a word dipped in Teflon, so slippery it flips out of your hand like a thrashing fish.

 Washington Post
Jan 15, 2002 The Worst Thing About Enron: Checks and Balances Failed

QUOTE: The multi-layered system of checks and balances that is supposed to keep a company from running amok completely broke down. Executives of public companies have legal and moral responsibilities to produce honest books and records -- but at Enron, they didn't do that.

 Washington Post

37 Articles and Resources. Go to:  [Previous 20]