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Great Moments In The EBS Trial

The court: He says two videotapes were played at the conference.

Ed Tomko (counsel for Rex Shelby): But they weren’t.

The court: Not according to him but your client is a liar, right?

The next words out of Tomko’s mouth should have been, “Your honor, I move for an immediate mistrial.” Judge Gimore would not have granted it, but at least the request would be in the public record.

Great Moments In The EBS Trial

Tony Canales: Now how old of a man are you today, sir?

Scott Yeager: I’m 53.

Canales: All right. And how old of a man were you when you were doing this business about the — you know, getting into the fiber optic?

Yeager: Well, ’89. So what’s that sixteen years ago. So 40 something. Is that right?

Canales: At least the lawyers behind me, they are all whispering to me different numbers. We will work it out later.

Yeager: I am good at math, not arithmatic.

I just love Yeager’s line there. He is flat-out adorable. And the correct answer is:

When the trial was going on in 2005, 1989 was sixteen years previous. That would have made Mr Yeager 37 years old. But like Einstein and myself, Mr Yeager’s brain is far too advanced to quibble over children’s arithmatic.

Great Moments In The EBS Trial

The Court: Mr Shelby, just stick –

Mr. Tomko: Your Honor, I –

The Court: — stick to the question. If you don’t know the answer, then just say you don’t know.

Rex Shelby: Okeydoke

Mr. Shelby just proved his innocence there. Criminals do not say “Okeydoke”. Period.

Great Moments In The EBS Trial

Trials are serious things of course, but once in a while somebody says something that makes you giggle or gasp. This the first in a new series: Great Moments Of The EBS Trial.

Tony Canales (on direct): And when you sold your stock, what happened — or when you exchanged stock, what did you get in return?

Scott Yeager: I received money.

Canales: And you got, as we say back home, a truckload of money, did you not, sir?

Yeager: Yes I did.

Canales: Now, you were charged with all those violations, correct?

Yeager: Yes. And I guess after that, I’m also charged with, I guess, what they call “money laundering” by spending the money.

Today In Enron History

July 31, 2001 was Scott Yeager’s last day at Enron Broadband Services. He testified at trial that he was fired because he didn’t play “the Enron way.” What he meant by that is he was not what Enron called an “originator”; he was not out closing big deals. Incidentally that wasn’t in his job description and he was blindsided by the whole thing.

While at EBS, Scott Yeager achieved a great deal and was well-liked by most who knew him. His departure from Enron was a huge loss to Enron, whether or not Enron realized it at the time.

Skilling Update

I messed up. I completely forgot that Skilling’s resentencing was removed from the calendar months ago because of his appeal to SCOTUS. So my legal expert friend, Cliff Stricklin, and myself were all speculating on something that was never going to happen.

I don’t usually flake like that but oops, I did this time.

I next Skilling item I guess will be whether or not SCOTUS grants writ of certiorari in response to his petition. And then hopefully the chain of events will eventually lead him to freedom, where he belongs. One step at a time.

Skilling Resentencing Postponed

Jeff Skilling’s sentencing has been postponed. Details are sketchy; I don’t know the date of the new hearing and it is unclear if the resentencing was postponed today or earlier (ie, in reaction to the SCOTUS appeal.). More news as it becomes available.

Cliff Stricklin Bets 15.5 Years For Skilling

At first blush, this article about Skilling’s resentencing seems outrageous. Cliff Stricklin, one of the Enron Task Force prosecutors, is wisely quoted and says if he were a betting man, he would bet Judge Sim Lake resentences Skilling to 15.5 years.

I thought it was bad form to have an ETF prosecutor laying odds that way.

Then it occurred to me… Cliff Stricklin? He prosecuted the BROADBAND defendants, and came up with a grand total of zero convictions. So the journalist who wrote the story apparently needed an ETF guy to talk on the record but the best he/ she could do was Stricklin, who had almost nothing to do with Skilling at all. Whatsamatter, John Hueston declined comment? John Hueston will usually talk to anyone — yours truly included. He talks just to hear himself talk. I can’t imagine why he didn’t have something to say about Skilling.

In any case, we will see if Stricklin is right. Justice would be a sentence of “time served.”

Jeff Skilling Resentencing Today

Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling is scheduled to be resentenced this morning after a federal appeals court determined Judge Sim Lake had inappropriately added an enhancement to Skilling’s 24-year sentence for “jeopardizing a financial institution.”. Skilling’s resentencing comes as his attorneys have filed for an appeal before the US Supreme Court.

One legal expert who has worked on ,other Enron case says the SCOTUS appeal will probably not affect the resentencing at all; in other words, Skilling can be resentenced and still appeal to the Supreme Court with his original complaint, which is that the government wrongfully tried him under a theory of Honest Services. The Fifth Circuit reversed itself in Skilling’s case and Skilling is asking for clarification of the law.

I will update with resentencing news as details become available.