What does everyone think about Ken Lay's conveniently timed heart attack?

Question

Reports from today, none too detailed suggest that Ken Lay died of a massive heart attack and that there had been nothing to predict this. He saved tax payers a lot of money in not going through appeals or being a high profile inmate but do you think he brought this on to avoid a long stint in prison following his upcoming sentencing which would have happened on September 11th? If he did bring this on isn't this the ultimate in disrespect for everyone he hurt? If he's an Evangelist supposedly all he has to do is ask for forgiveness, be sorry for his sins, and he's good to go. Didn't he get off extremely easily?

Answer 1

Have you been eating wild mushrooms? The poor man is dead, and according to the sentencing guidelines of this country, you don't get any more punished than that.

Answer 2

I can't believe how gullible folks are. Ol' Kenny Boy aint dead. This is a hoax. Think about it. It's the perfect ending to a messy situation. Just fake your death, move to another country far away, and you're home free. He's way too smart not to have a nice stash someplace, or if not, he's got enough friends, and enough dirt to spill, that he will be very well taken care of for life. (You don't get a personal, private nickname from the President if you aren't an insider.)

This is not "conspiracy theory", it's common sense. If you were to place a wager on the truth, would you actually put your money on the random event of a heart attack being the truth of this?

It's no coincidence that his sentencing was for 9/11 either. That's a signal to powers that be in this world that Kenny's one of their own, and that whatever happens will be of their agenda.

Answer 3

Come on people. He had so much freaking stress on him about losing supporters and his company and his life. He wanted to live the American Dream but lived the American Nightmare. He probably got that heart attack of shock that omg this is really happening my life is about to be trappd inside a jail cell. Jeez, give the man some space, he's a human being like all of us.

Answer 4

Who is Ken Lay? The potato chip guy?

Answer 5

Is everything a conspiracy? The man was 64.

Why is it that people accuse Bush of being dumb as a chimp, then turn around and accuse him of all of these massive conspiracies?

Answer 6

Heart attacks can be caused by overdoses, so I wouldn't be surprised if the heart attack was self-induced.

Answer 7

He's lucky. The people that have been affected by his actions are not going to get their just revenge seeing him sentenced. They are just going to have to get over it though.

Answer 8

Timely would have been the day before Enron was exposed!

Answer 9

He's "gone on" to reap his reward from the great CEO in the sky!!

Answer 10

HOUSTON - 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.
spokeswoman Kelly Kimberly said the former Enron chairman and chief executive died of "natural causes" in Aspen, the only place he was allowed to travel pending his sentencing in federal court in Houston, Texas.

Lay and former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, 52, were convicted of setting up an elaborate scheme to deceive investors over Enron's crumbling finances prior to what was then the largest corporate bankruptcy in US history.

Sentencing for Lay and Skilling had been set for October 23 after their conviction May 25 in a Houston trial culminating a four-year investigation into one of the most complex accounting schemes in the history of corporate crime.

Evidence presented at the trial showed that between 1989 and October 2001, Lay sold some 300 million dollars in Enron stock even as he urged employees of the company to keep buying shares as the company hurtled toward collapse in late 2001.

Although Lay had been known for his smooth demeanor, he became irritated during his trial testimony and observers said he failed to persuade jurors of his sincerity.

Lay maintained his innocence after the trial, arguing that Enron was a sound company brought down by a cash crunch when the company's credit line dried up.

"I firmly believe that I am innocent of the charges against me, as I have said from day one," Lay said on his personal website after the verdict. "I still firmly believe that to this day. I will continue to work diligently with my legal team to prove this."

Lay's death came as the US Justice Department was preparing to seize the assets of Lay and Skilling following their conviction. The Washington Post reported that the government was seeking over 182 million dollars from the two executives, arguing that their homes and other assets were acquired through fraud.

Among the items prosecutors were hoping to seize was a condominium worth an estimated five million dollars in Houston.

The Justice Department had no comment on the status of the case.

A prominent Republican party fund raiser, Lay was found guilty of six fraud and conspiracy charges, and federal bank fraud charges in a separate trial. He faced a maximum of 165 years in jail.

Thousands of people lost their jobs and life savings when Enron collapsed with an estimated 40 billion dollars in debt, hidden through financial deals and often kept off the books of the Houston energy-trading giant.

The scandal undermined faith in corporate America and led to a massive stock market sell-off. It also made the name Enron synonymous with greed and malfeasance.

But the Enron affair also triggered a crackdown that has sent a number of executives to prison, and led to tough reforms on corporate governance.

Born April 15, 1942 to a poor Missouri family, Lay worked his way up in the ranks of business and founded Enron in the 1980s from the merger of two pipeline companies.

He remained CEO except for a brief period in 2001, and then took back the CEO's post from Skilling until the company's bankruptcy filing later that year.

Lay developed ties with former president George Bush, played golf with president Bill Clinton, and contributed generously to President George W. Bush's 2000 campaign, as well as his earlier campaign for Texas governor in 1993.

But White House spokesman Tony Snow would not say how the US president reacted to the passing of Lay, 64, and described the executive as simply "an acquaintance."

"The president had described Ken Lay as an acquaintance. And many of the president's acquaintances have died during his time in office," Snow said.

David Berg, a a Houston-based trial lawyer who has followed the case closely, said Lay's death would have no impact on Skilling's sentence or appeal, or on the various civil suits pending.

"As to the civil cases (against Lay) it will have no impact because it will proceed against his estate," Berg said.