ENRON:  From at least 1999 through late 2001, some ENRON guys named Skilling and Causey and others manipulated Enronʼs publicly reported financial results and made false and misleading public statements about Enronʼs financial condition and its actual performance.  As a result of their scheme to defraud, Skilling, Causey and others made millions of dollars by unlawful insider trading and other means, at the expense of Enron shareholders, the investing public and Enron employees.

Among the charges are: misleading shareholders, insider trading, 90 counts of fraud, breach of fiduciary responsibility: with estimated damages over $5 billion.

Prosecutors and regulators were after a bigger prize, where the real targets of the litigation Lay (past Chairman Kenneth Lay).  Applying the fiduciary principle of “Ultimate Responsibility”, who prevailed?  Well, Lay was convicted, but served no time.  He never even appealed his conviction.  He conveniently died.  He had been found guilty in February, 2006, on ten counts of fraud, conspiracy and other illegal financial shenanigans.  However, awaiting his sentencing hearing and facing a possible prison term of twenty to thirty years, Lay had a massive heart attack and died while on a skiing vacation.  He sprouted a booming industry in “Heʼs Not Really Dead” conspiracy theories, and has been seen appearing in unusual locations, often in countries with no extradition, alongside Elvis, Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster.

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