ENRON CEO: New Sentencing?
By Benjamin Blascoe
The imprisoned ex-Enron Corp Chief Executive Officer Jeffery Skilling is back at trial today. Skilling is currently serving a 24-year sentence for deceiving investors and employees about Enron’s fiscal health, consequently leading to a cluster of financial atom-bombs. However, Skilling stands before the court today to not receive more backlashes from his peers but to reduce his sentence…?
District Court Judge Sim Lake in Houston, Texas did the original sentencing. But complaints via friends, family and even law professionals felt that the 24 year and 4 month sentence was a bit tough. Lake was under the impression that Skilling’s wrongdoings endangered a financial institution which is what led to the harsh punishment.
With new evidence and guidelines surfaced, Skilling is likely to have his sentence reduced somewhere between 188 and 235 months – roughly 15 ½ years.
However, the controversy is not likely to cease. There are still a lot of angry Enronites out there who enjoy the fact that Skilling is behind bars. And given that it is also feasible for Judge Lake to simply reinstate the first sentencing, it should make for quite the courtroom showdown. Both sides are braced with the best and brightest of their given practices and with the likelihood that Skilling’s sentence could be upheld – there may be even more appeals to come.
