Enron founder Ken Lay dead of heart attack

*Boy*Boy Posts: 112
edited July 2006 in A Moving Train
motherfucker lucked out (?)



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13715925/



Enron founder Ken Lay dead of heart attack
Ex-Enron exec convicted of helping perpetuate a huge business fraud
BREAKING NEWS
The Associated Press


Updated: 11:51 a.m. ET July 5, 2006
HOUSTON - Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay, who was convicted of helping perpetuate one of the most sprawling business frauds in U.S. history, died Wednesday of a heart attack in Colorado. He was 64.

The Pitkin, Colo., Sheriff’s Department said officers were called to Lay’s house in Old Snowmass, Colo., shortly after 1 a.m. Mountain time. He was taken to Aspen Valley Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:11 a.m. Lay, who lived in Houston, frequently vacationed in Colorado.

Family spokeswoman Kelly L. Kimberly issued a statement saying, “Ken Lay passed away early this morning in Aspen. The Lays have a very large family with whom they need to communicate. And out of respect for the family, we will release further details at a later time.”

Pastor Steve Wende of First United Methodist Church of Houston, said in a statement that church member Lay died unexpectedly of a “massive coronary.”

Wende said Lay and his wife, Linda, were in Colorado for the week “and his death was totally unexpected. Apparently, his heart simply gave out.”

Lay was scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 23. He faced decades in prison.

Lay led Enron’s meteoric rise from a staid natural gas pipeline company formed by a 1985 merger to an energy and trading conglomerate that reached No. 7 on the Fortune 500 in 2000 and claimed $101 billion in annual revenues. He traveled in the highest business and political circles.

For many years, his corporation was the single biggest contributor to President Bush, who nicknamed him “Kenny Boy.”

Lay was convicted May 25 along with former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling of defrauding investors and employees by repeatedly lying about Enron’s financial strength in the months before the company plummeted into bankruptcy protection in December 2001. Lay was also convicted in a separate non-jury trial of bank fraud and making false statements to banks, charges related to his personal finances.

Skilling, reached by telephone at his home in Houston, told The Associated Press that he was aware of Lay’s death, but declined further comment.

Prosecutors in Lay’s trial declined comment Wednesday, both on his unexpected death and what may become of the government’s effort to seek a $43.5 million judgment from Lay that they say he pocketed as part of the conspiracy.


Burt Palmer, the church’s executive pastor, told The Associated Press that the Lays attended church in Houston on Sunday. “The church continues to love them and help them walk through this difficult time.”

Pat Worcester, executive assistant to CEO at Aspen Valley Hospital, said Lay was admitted into the emergency room at 3:10 a.m. Wednesday. She said the hospital would release a statement later.

Lay had built Enron into a high-profile, widely admired company, the seventh-largest publicly traded in the country. But Enron collapsed after it was revealed the company’s finances were based on a web of fraudulent partnerships and schemes, not the profits that it reported to investors and the public.

When Lay and Skilling went on trial in U.S. District Court Jan. 30, it had been expected that Lay, who enjoyed great popularity throughout Houston as chairman of the energy company, might be able to charm the jury. But during his testimony, 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 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.

His defense didn’t help his case with jurors.

“I wanted very badly to believe what they were saying,” juror Wendy Vaughan said after the verdicts were announced. “There were places in the testimony I felt their character was questionable.”

Lay was born in Tyrone, Mo. and spent his childhood helping his family make ends meet. His father ran a general store and sold stoves until he became a minister. Lay delivered newspapers and mowed lawns to pitch in. He attended the University of Missouri, found his calling in economics, and went to work at Exxon Mobil Corp. predecessor Humble Oil & Refining upon graduation.

He joined the Navy, served his time at the Pentagon, and then served as undersecretary for the Department of the Interior before he returned to business. He became an executive at Florida Gas, then Transco Energy in Houston, and later became CEO of Houston Natural Gas. In 1985, HNG merged with InterNorth in Omaha, Neb. to form Enron, and Lay became chairman and CEO of the combined company the next year.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13715925/



© 2006 MSNBC.com
~It is better to be hated for who you are than loved for who you are not ~

~You laugh because I am different, I laugh because you are all the fucking same ~

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Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • *Boy*Boy Posts: 112
    sorry just saw the other thread...
    ~It is better to be hated for who you are than loved for who you are not ~

    ~You laugh because I am different, I laugh because you are all the fucking same ~

    ~Education is the most powerfull weapon you can use to change the world - Nelson Mandela~

    ~chaka boom chak -Tom Waits~
  • decides2dreamdecides2dream Posts: 14,976
    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.”



    disgusting.




    eh, karma's a bitch.



    Prosecutors in Lay’s trial declined comment Wednesday, both on his unexpected death and what may become of the government’s effort to seek a $43.5 million judgment from Lay that they say he pocketed as part of the conspiracy.


    hmmm...conspiracy theorists unite..was it somehow a suicide perhaps?
    Stay with me...
    Let's just breathe...


    I am myself like you somehow


  • kenny olavkenny olav Posts: 3,322
    hmmm...conspiracy theorists unite..was it somehow a suicide perhaps?

    or maybe he faked his death? :D
  • Kenny Olav wrote:
    or maybe he faked his death? :D

    I don't think it's out of the question that he was "suicided"

    had a lot of dirt on a lot of people I'm sure.

    either way It was nice knowin you Ken. Have fun in Hell, you miserable c**ksucker.

    $10.00 says ed dedicates this one to Kenny tommorow night in Vegas

    Sorry is the fool who trades his soul for a corvette.
    Thinks hell get the girl hell only get the mechanic.
    Whats missing? hes living a day hell soon forget.

    Thats one more time around. the sun is going down.
    The moon is out but hes drunk and shouting.
    Putting people down. hes pissing. hes living a day hell soon forget.

    Counts his money every morning. the only thing that keeps him horny.
    Locked in a giant house thats alarming.
    The townsfolk they all laugh.

    Sorry is the fool who trades his love for hi-rise rent.
    Seem the more you make equals the loneliness you get.
    And its fitting. hes barley living a day hell soon forget.

    Thats one more time around and there is not a sound.
    Hes lying dead clutching benjamins. never put the money down.
    Hes stiffening. were all whistling a man well soon forget.
  • Nothingman54Nothingman54 Posts: 2,251
    I bet there are alot of happy X Enron employees.
    I'll be back
  • decides2dreamdecides2dream Posts: 14,976
    Kenny Olav wrote:
    or maybe he faked his death? :D

    seriously while i am not one usually to think such immediately...it's certainly not outside the realm of possibility. as we all know, $$$ can buy much/many....and lawd knows he'd have good reason, and probably the means, to at least try it...or consider it. ;)

    orrrrr conversely, hmmm....who got paid to slip lay a mikey to 'cause' this seemingly natural heart attack? interesting. i think oliver stone has the foundation for a new and brilliant screenplay.
    Stay with me...
    Let's just breathe...


    I am myself like you somehow


  • Drowned OutDrowned Out Posts: 6,056
    seriously while i am not one usually to think such immediately...it's certainly not outside the realm of possibility. as we all know, $$$ can buy much/many....and lawd knows he'd have good reason, and probably the means, to at least try it...or consider it. ;)

    orrrrr conversely, hmmm....who got paid to slip lay a mikey to 'cause' this seemingly natural heart attack? interesting. i think oliver stone has the foundation for a new and brilliant screenplay.

    I just wrote an almost identical post (but of course longer and less coherent ;) )to reply to you in the other thread:

    Suicide? It's the enemies of the government that commit suicide (usually a gunshot to the back of the head) ;)

    you could be right.....what if he was willing to talk about someone really big in exchange for a lighter sentence or something?....I saw something recently about poison being the assasination method of choice nowadays...

    But then....

    I don't think it would be all that hard for someone with money and..... a body.... to fake their death. A family member ID's a body that fits your description and requests cremation. It there's an autopsy, it's just another two or three palms to grease. Most peoples morals would go down the toilet for seven figures and the realization that the guy would just go elsewhere (Aspen, perhaps?) if you said no....The bribes would be chump change to him. Or if we wanna go really hollywood - he could be using his infamy to threaten to hurt you or your family ... Then a little "work" and off to the islands.
  • decides2dreamdecides2dream Posts: 14,976
    I just wrote an almost identical post (but of course longer and less coherent ;) )to reply to you in the other thread:

    Suicide? It's the enemies of the government that commit suicide (usually a gunshot to the back of the head) ;)

    you could be right.....what if he was willing to talk about someone really big in exchange for a lighter sentence or something?....I saw something recently about poison being the assasination method of choice nowadays...

    But then....

    I don't think it would be all that hard for someone with money and..... a body.... to fake their death. A family member ID's a body that fits your description and requests cremation. It there's an autopsy, it's just another two or three palms to grease. Most peoples morals would go down the toilet for seven figures and the realization that the guy would just go elsewhere (Aspen, perhaps?) if you said no....The bribes would be chump change to him. Or if we wanna go really hollywood - he could be using his infamy to threaten to hurt you or your family ... Then a little "work" and off to the islands.


    see..i am tellin' ya, oliver stone can have a field day with this one. :D

    btw - longer and less coherent? what are you stoned? :p tryin' to get on my good side? ;) usually icomments on regards to brevity are never directed to me...and coherence?...hahaha.....i always feel so misunderstood. :o so sure, gold star for you...nice to have ya back. :)
    Stay with me...
    Let's just breathe...


    I am myself like you somehow


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