Jeffrey Skilling, Former Enron Chief, Released After 12 Years in Prison — Transcript

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1. 0:02[Music]
2. 0:06mr. skilling and Kenneth lay Enron's
3. 0:09founder were convicted after the Houston
4. 0:11based energy company collapsed in 2001
5. 0:13in one of the most high-profile cases of
6. 0:16corporate fraud in America Geoffrey K
7. 0:19skilling the former chief executive of
8. 0:21Enron whose lies contributed to the
9. 0:23sudden collapse of the energy company in
10. 0:25one of the country's most high-profile
11. 0:27cases of corporate fraud was released
12. 0:29from federal custody on Thursday after
13. 0:31serving more than 12 years in prison the
14. 0:33federal authorities said mr. skilling 65
15. 0:37was released from a halfway house in
16. 0:39Texas his final stop in the federal
17. 0:41prison system after being held at a
18. 0:43prison camp in Alabama and a prison in
19. 0:46Colorado the Federal Bureau of Prisons
20. 0:48said on Friday a lawyer for mr. skilling
21. 0:51did not respond to a message seeking
22. 0:53comment mr. skilling was one of several
23. 0:56Enron leaders who guided the company
24. 0:58through a spectacular rise in the 1990s
25. 1:01as it evolved from a sleepy pipeline
26. 1:03operator into one of the world's
27. 1:04dominant energy companies by reshaping
28. 1:06the way natural gas and electricity were
29. 1:09bought and sold
30. 1:10he was later convicted for his leading
31. 1:12role in a complex fraud and conspiracy
32. 1:14scheme that led to the company's
33. 1:16stunning fall which culminated in one of
34. 1:19the largest corporate bankruptcies in
35. 1:20American history on December 2nd 2001
36. 1:24mr. skilling had abruptly quit four
37. 1:26months earlier in August 2001 after less
38. 1:29than a year as chief executive his
39. 1:32resignation stunned Wall Street analysts
40. 1:34and raised suspicions despite his
41. 1:36assurances at the time that his
42. 1:38departure had nothing to do with Enron
43. 1:40but in private Enron executives knew
44. 1:43that its accounting improprieties which
45. 1:45were used to hide financial losses would
46. 1:47soon unravel for the world to see in
47. 1:49October of that year Enron announced a
48. 1:52six hundred million dollars loss in the
49. 1:54latest financial quarter in a one point
50. 1:56two billion dollars reduction in
51. 1:58shareholder equity almost immediately
52. 2:00prompting the Securities and Exchange
53. 2:01Commission to open an investigation into
54. 2:04the company it was only a matter of time
55. 2:07before the company would be revealed as
56. 2:09a house of cards and Enron's crooked a
57. 2:11logo would become a symbol of corporate
58. 2:13shame
59. 2:13the fall of Enron cost shareholders
60. 2:16billions of dollars in its employees
61. 2:18their retirement savings its demise
62. 2:21assured in a wave of prosecutions that
63. 2:23rooted out accounting fraud at other
64. 2:24companies like Worldcom HealthSouth and
65. 2:27Adelphia communications along with
66. 2:30Kenneth L a Enron's founder and chairman
67. 2:32mr. skilling was convicted on fraud and
68. 2:35conspiracy charges in 2006 after a 56
69. 2:38day trial specifically mr. skilling was
70. 2:41convicted of 18 counts of fraud and
71. 2:44conspiracy and one count of insider
72. 2:46trading for his central role in the
73. 2:47accounting schemes that masked Enron's
74. 2:49debts and weak finances from
75. 2:51shareholders and regulators mr. lay was
76. 2:54found guilty on six counts of fraud and
77. 2:56conspiracy and four counts of bank fraud
78. 2:59he died about a month after the trial
79. 3:01and his conviction was vacated
80. 3:03separately Andrew s Fastow the former
81. 3:07chief financial officer who helped
82. 3:08construct Enron's fraud scheme pleaded
83. 3:10guilty in 2004 to fraud and stealing
84. 3:13from the company
85. 3:14a judge reduced his initial prison
86. 3:16sentenced to six years from 10 years
87. 3:18because he helped federal prosecutors
88. 3:20with the convictions of mr. skilling and
89. 3:22mr. Lai of the group mr. skilling was
90. 3:25given the harshest punishment he was
91. 3:27initially sentenced to more than 24
92. 3:29years in prison but that term was later
93. 3:31reduced to 14 years in part because of a
94. 3:34mistake made by a judge in interpreting
95. 3:36the federal sentencing guidelines in
96. 3:38exchange for his reduced sentence mr.
97. 3:41skilling gave up about 42 million
98. 3:43dollars all of which was to be
99. 3:45distributed to victims of Enron's fraud
100. 3:47during mr. Skilling's time in prison his
101. 3:50parents and his 20 year old son have
102. 3:52died
103. 3:55[Music]
104. 3:57you