HOUSTON - Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling was ordered Monday to serve 24
years and four months in prison, the harshest punishment by far in Enron's
scandalous collapse and one that capped a string of tough sentences for top
executives in corruption cases.
US District Judge Sim Lake denied Skilling's request for bond and ordered him
to home confinement, wearing an ankle monitor. Lake, who told the U.S. Bureau of
Prisons to recommend when Skilling should report to prison, suggested the
52-year-old be sent to the federal facility in Butner, N.C., for his role in a
case that came to symbolize corporate fraud in America.
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Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling, left, and his attorney Daniel
Petrocelli, right leave the federal courthouse after Skilling was
sentenced to 292 months in federal prison Monday, Oct. 23, 2006 in
Houston. Skilling was convicted in May of 19 counts of fraud, conspiracy,
insider trading and lying to auditors.
[AP]
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"His crimes have imposed on hundreds if not thousands a life sentence of
poverty," Lake said.
The former chief executive officer will be eligible to shave up to 54 days a
year off his sentence for good behavior in prison. Lake also ordered Skilling to
undergo alcohol and mental-health counseling. A successful completion of that
treatment would take a year off his sentence.
Skilling, insisting he was innocent yet remorseful in a two-hour hearing, was
the last top former official to be punished for the accounting tricks and shady
business deals that led to the loss of thousands of jobs, more than $60 billion
in Enron stock and more than $2 billion in employee pension plans after the
company imploded in 2001.
His remaining assets, about $60 million, will be liquidated, according to an
agreement among lawyers for Enron employees, the company's savings and stock
ownership plans, prosecutors and Skilling's legal team.
About $45 million will be put in a restitution fund for victims. The
remaining $15 million will go to Skilling's legal fees, said Lynn Sark, attorney
for the Enron Corp. Savings Plan and Stock Ownership Plan. The Justice
Department allowed Skilling to set aside $23 million for his defense when he was
indicted; he still owed his lawyers $30 million as of Monday.
Outside the courthouse, Skilling vowed to appeal his sentence and also asked
that his restitution money go straight to victims, instead of being seized first
by the federal government. His attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, said the restitution
will be held until all of Skilling's appeals are exhausted.
Skilling had stood with his hands clasped below his waist, with Petrocelli at
his side while being sentenced. He gave no visible reaction. After court
adjourned, Skilling hugged Petrocelli.
Skilling's term is the longest received by any Enron defendant; former Chief
Financial Officer Andrew Fastow was given a six-year term after cooperating with
prosecutors and helping them secure Skilling's conviction.
It falls just shy of the sentence imposed on WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers, who
received 25 years for his role in the $11 billion accounting fraud that toppled
the company he built from a tiny telecommunications firm to an industry giant.
Another CEO, Dennis Kozlowski of Tyco International Ltd., received a sentence of
eight and one-third to 25 years in prison in another fraud case.
Skilling's co-defendant, Enron founder Kenneth Lay, died from heart disease
on July 5. Lay's convictions on 10 counts of fraud, conspiracy and lying to
banks in two separate cases were wiped out with his death.
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