Former Enron chief charged with fraud
Date: February 19, 2004Source: Chicago Tribune
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HOUSTON -- The Justice Department unveiled a 35-count indictment against Jeffrey Skilling on Thursday, alleging the former chief executive of Enron Corp. shepherded the Texas-based energy giant through a massive conspiracy that ushered in the modern era of corporate corruption.
Brought to the federal courthouse in handcuffs after turning himself in just before dawn at the FBI's Houston office, the 50-year-old Skilling told a federal magistrate, "I plead not guilty to all counts."
Skilling, the highest-ranking executive charged to date in one of history's largest corporate fraud cases, then handed over a cashier's check to post $5 million in bond and walked out of the courthouse.
"Jeff Skilling has nothing to hide. He did not steal. He did not lie. He did not take anyone's money," defense attorney Daniel Petrocelli said outside the courthouse, with his client standing silent beside him.
Petrocelli also called the indictment "a grave mistake," arguing that Skilling is being made into a scapegoat for Enron's phenomenal collapse, which cost shareholders billions of dollars, caused thousands of job losses and led to the shuttering of Chicago's once-venerable Andersen accounting firm.
His comments signal what could become a long and hotly contested courtroom battle. Skilling has adamantly and publicly maintained for more than two years that he did nothing improper.
The 57-page indictment, unsealed Thursday after it was returned a day earlier by a Houston federal grand jury, alleges Skilling sat atop a vast and complex conspiracy to defraud investors while personally profiting from performance-based bonuses and more than $62.6 million in insider stock sales...
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