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Ken Lay?s Convictions Vacated From Court

Fraud and conspiracy convictions against the late founder of Enron, Ken Lay, were tossed out of court by a Houston judge last week, due to the fact that Lay could obviously not appeal. The vacation of these convictions means an end to the criminal case against Ken Lay?s estate that was left to his wife, Linda. Ken Lay died at the age of 64 from heart disease while he was awaiting sentencing on ten counts of fraud and conspiracy related to the downfall of his company, Enron.

Despite the removal of these convictions from court, there are many civil cases pending against Lay?s estate. Under Lay?s leadership, his company, Enron, became the seventh largest company in the United States before an accounting scandal in 2001 brought it to its knees. Lay was convicted of lying to Wall Street and investors, inflating profits and concealing almost $1-billion in debts. At the end of 2001, Enron filed for bankruptcy and took down with it the jobs of over 4000 employees, many of whom lost their life savings as well.

Lay was due to be sentenced on October 23 of this year but died in March as he was awaiting the culmination of five dramatic years. After the Enron scandal, more and more cases of corporate fraud were brought into the open and the US authorities finally adopted the Sarbanes-Oxley law. This law oversees the auditing of US companies in a much stricter manner than was done in the past and introduced the important issue of business ethics into corporate America.