Enron Ex-CEO Skilling Denied Bail While Appealing Convictions for Fraud
Former Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling, right. Photographer: Carlos Javier Sanchez/Bloomberg
Ex-Enron Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Skilling, under a court ruling denying him bail, will remain in prison while he appeals his 2006 fraud convictions.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans yesterday denied Skilling’s request for bail in a one-sentence ruling that didn’t provide an explanation for the decision.
Skilling, 56, is serving a 24-year sentence after a Houston jury convicted him for leading what prosecutors said was a widespread accounting fraud that deceived investors about Enron’s true financial condition.
Skilling has asked that his convictions be reversed and that he be retried by a jury that isn’t allowed to consider so- called honest-services fraud in weighing his guilt or innocence.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Skilling’s favor, saying he was prosecuted under a law regarding honest services fraud that doesn’t apply to his case. The justices said the law, which covers fraud schemes to “deprive another of the intangible right to honest services,” could be constitutionally applied only to cases involving bribery or kickbacks.
Skilling’s lawyer, Daniel Petrocelli, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment yesterday.
The case is U.S. v. Skilling, 06-20885, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (New Orleans).
To contact the reporter on this story: Edvard Pettersson in Los Angeles at epettersson@bloomberg.net.
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