Slappie 9 #1 July 5, 2006 http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4025339.html ENRON'S KEN LAY DIES: 'HIS HEART SIMPLY GAVE OUT' Staff and wire reports Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay, who was convicted of helping perpetuate one of the most sprawling business frauds in U.S. history, has died. He was 64. Nicknamed "Kenny Boy'' by President Bush, 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 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. He was scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 23. 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.'' "He and his wife, Linda, were in Colorado for the week, and his death was totally unexpected. Apparently, his heart simply gave out," Steve Wende, of First Methodist Houston said in a memo today to church staff. The Lays owned property in Colorado, the only state outside the Southern District of Texas, which includes Houston, where he was allowed to go before that sentencing. His attorney during the trial, Mike Ramsey, said today that Lay's wife, Linda, was with him when he died. Ramsey 's own heart problems forced him to miss much of the trial. Born April 15, 1942, in Tyrone, Mo., Lay grew up as the son of a Baptist minister who also sold farm equipment and worked at a feed store. In high school in Rush Hill, Mo., just outside Columbia, Lay was a top student, sophomore class president, bass singer in the madrigal choir and slide trombone player in the marching band. While attending the University of Missouri, Lay became interested in Wall Street, monetary policy and international trade. Earning a master's degree in economics in 1965, Lay accepted a senior analyst job at Humble Oil in Houston, though he knew nothing about energy or the Gulf Coast. There, and later at Exxon, Lay was an economist in corporate planning. "I spent a lot of time on a tractor and had a lot of time to think," Lay told the Chronicle in 1991. "I must confess, I was enamored with business and industry. It was so different from the world in which I was living." "Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
turtlespeed 226 #2 July 5, 2006 All I have time to do as a PW is skimk the long articles - I didn't see where it said HOW he died - did he Off himself?I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lindercles 0 #3 July 5, 2006 QuoteAll I have time to do as a PW is skimk the long articles - I didn't see where it said HOW he died - did he Off himself? Dude, I just skimmed it, too, but it's in freaking caps at the very top of the article. QuoteENRON'S KEN LAY DIES: 'HIS HEART SIMPLY GAVE OUT' Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Slappie 9 #4 July 5, 2006 QuoteAll I have time to do as a PW is skimk the long articles - I didn't see where it said HOW he died - did he Off himself? You've reached a new level of laziness. He died of a HEART ATTACK! "Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkydiveStMarys 0 #5 July 5, 2006 Yep, thats what stress will do to ya. BobbiA miracle is not defined by an event. A miracle is defined by gratitude. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lawrocket 3 #6 July 5, 2006 Ken Lay had a heart? My wife is hotter than your wife. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
turtlespeed 226 #7 July 5, 2006 QuoteKen Lay had a heart? Yeah - but his lawyer ate it.I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 7 #8 July 5, 2006 QuoteQuoteKen Lay had a heart? Yeah - but his lawyer ate it. *** Hang on boys....makin' popcorn! ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aftermid 0 #9 July 5, 2006 A heart attack is too kind for that M%*her F$$ker. I feel like Karmic law dictated he spend the rest of his life being raped in prison. At the very least, after being convicted he should have died alone in jail awaiting his sentence, not vacationing in the Rockies. I hope that the body is throughly examined and verified with a DNA test. I'm sure there will be a long line to piss on his grave. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PsychoBob 0 #10 July 5, 2006 With any luck at all that sorry fucker is roastin right now."I'm not a gynecologist but I will take a look at it" RB #1295, Smokey Sister #1, HellFish #658, Dirty Sanchez #194, Muff Brothers #3834, POPS #9614, Orfun Foster-Parent?" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
