Ex-Enron CEO Jeff Skilling Gets 24 Years
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James Joyner | Monday, October 23, 2006 |
Barring appeal, Jeff Skilling will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars. [Update: Well, maybe not. He's a month shy of 53 now, so he'd be 77 at the end of a full sentence.]
Jeffrey Skilling was sentenced to 24 years in prison Monday for his role in the fraud at Enron that brought down the nation’s seventh-largest company and came to stand as a symbol for an era of corporate fraud in America. Judge Sim Lake announced the sentence in a packed courtroom in the federal courthouse in Houston.
Skilling was convicted in May on 19 counts of fraud, insider trading and conspiracy while chief executive at Enron. More than 4,000 Enron employees lost their jobs – and many their life savings – when the company declared bankruptcy in December 2001. Investors lost billions.
While that’s more than most murderers get if they haven’t been convicted of previous crimes, it’s arguable that Skilling and company did more damage to society.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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It's interesting to contrast Skilling's sentence with that given to Lynn Stewart, and muse on what this says about us as a society.
BC and James Joyner's points are very true. No doubt he committed a crime but 24 years? It's not right.
Many of those investors were looking to get rich quick and knew the risks. The trustees of the 401k were the ones responsible for allowing so much of the pension money to be in Enron stock. The jobs that were lost are a shame but everyone runs that risk, look at the auto workers being laid off.
This sentence isn't about rehabilitation or deterrents, it's about being overwhelmed by the size of the debacle. Judges should know better.
He should have claimed he was too emotionally attached to his job. They would have given him 24 months.
Cry me a river.
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