Enron's Lay Is Dead

One always suspects foul play (orchestrated by Karl Rove to remove a potential fly in the 2006 election cycle ointment) but perhaps Kenny-boy's guilt got the better of him.

Enron's Lay Is Dead : Kenneth Lay, the former chairman of Enron who was convicted of fraud in May, has died. He was 64.

The Lay family issued a brief statement saying that Mr. Lay died early this morning in Aspen, Colo., where he once had several vacation homes during Enron's better days. Mr. Lay wasn't known to have heart problems.
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When Messrs. Lay and Skilling went on trial in U.S. District Court Jan. 30, it had been expected that Mr. Lay, who enjoyed great popularity throughout Houston as chairman of the energy company, might be able to charm the jury. But during his testimony, Mr. Lay ended up coming across as irritable and combative.

He also sounded arrogant, defending his extravagant lifestyle, including a $200,000 yacht for wife Linda's birthday party, despite $100 million in personal debt and saying “it was difficult to turn off that lifestyle like a spigot.”

Both he and Mr. Skilling maintained that there had been no wrongdoing at Enron, and that the company had been brought down by negative publicity that undermined investors' confidence.

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