Ken Lay dead at 64

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Apr 9, 2006
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The conspiracy crowd will have some fun with this one.

Enron founder Ken Lay dies of heart attack

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13715925/

HOUSTON - Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay, who was convicted of helping perpetuate one of the most sprawling business frauds in U.S. history, died Wednesday in Aspen, Colo. He was 64.

Lay died of a heart attack, his pastor in Houston said.

“Apparently, his heart simply gave out,” said Pastor Steve Wende of Houston’s First United Methodist Church. Lay, who lived in Houston, frequently vacationed in Colorado.

Lay 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.

Skilling, reached by telephone at his home in Houston, told The Associated Press that he was aware of Lay’s death.

“No, I don’t have any comment,” he said quietly.

Prosecutors in Lay’s trial also declined comment Wednesday, both on his unexpected death and what may become of the government’s effort to seek a $43.5 million judgment from Lay that they say he pocketed as part of the conspiracy. Lay’s death will not affect their case against Skilling.

Both were scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 23. Lay faced decades in prison, as does Skilling.

The Pitkin, Colo., Sheriff’s Department said officers were called to Lay’s house in Old Snowmass, Colo., shortly after 1 a.m. MDT (3 a.m. EDT). He was taken to Aspen Valley Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:11 a.m. MDT.

Pat Worcester, executive assistant to the CEO at Aspen Valley Hospital, said the hospital would release a statement later.

Family spokeswoman Kelly L. Kimberly issued a statement saying, “Ken Lay passed away early this morning in Aspen. The Lays have a very large family with whom they need to communicate. And out of respect for the family, we will release further details at a later time.”

Burt Palmer, the church’s executive pastor, told The Associated Press that the Lays attended church in Houston on Sunday. “The church continues to love them and help them walk through this difficult time.”

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. Lay traveled in the highest business and political circles.

For many years, his corporation was the single biggest contributor to President Bush, who nicknamed him “Kenny Boy.”

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 came across as irritable and combative.

His lead lawyer, Michael Ramsey, was hospitalized for heart problems during that part of the trial.

Lay also defended 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.”

Lay was born in Tyrone, Mo. and spent his childhood helping his family make ends meet. His father ran a general store and sold stoves until he became a minister. Lay delivered newspapers and mowed lawns to pitch in. He attended the University of Missouri, found his calling in economics, and went to work at Exxon Mobil Corp. predecessor Humble Oil & Refining upon graduation.

He joined the Navy, served his time at the Pentagon, and then served as undersecretary for the Department of the Interior before he returned to business. He became an executive at Florida Gas, then Transco Energy in Houston, and later became CEO of Houston Natural Gas. In 1985, HNG merged with InterNorth in Omaha, Neb. to form Enron, and Lay became chairman and CEO of the combined company the next year.
 
I was hoping that he'd die in prison. Maybe they should take the body and have it lay in state somewhere that all the people whose pensions he stole can spit on it.
 
$10 says within a year, somebody will start a theory he made a deal with the Bush Administration to fake his death, and allow him to take his millions and retire off-shore, in a tropical country without an extradition treaty.

Watch. It'll happen.
 
I hear the DU is already overflowing with conspiracy theories. You know Cheney just took him out so he wouldnt implicate Bush dont you?
 
dmp said:
$10 says within a year, somebody will start a theory he made a deal with the Bush Administration to fake his death, and allow him to take his millions and retire off-shore, in a tropical country without an extradition treaty.

Watch. It'll happen.

Why do you have to take something that pretty much all of us can agree on and make it about Bush, Darin.

You can leave Bush out of it. Ken Lay is very firmly esconsed in hell right about now.
 
jillian said:
Why do you have to take something that pretty much all of us can agree on and make it about Bush, Darin.

You can leave Bush out of it. Ken Lay is very firmly esconsed in hell right about now.

Hey girl - it's not me - it's THEM. It's YOU people...Wait. I know it'll happen because Liberals LIVE to tie Bush to bad people.
 
here it is. That didn't take long.......:teeth:

50. I see......
What a......convenient.......death.

Of course, if he had been as good of a friend of Clinton's, rather than that of Bushie, the right wing conpiracy buffs would be going apeshit.

So, real heart attack? Or did an ex-CIA friend of the Bush family arrange the heart attack?

Oh, and they better install a urinal on the grave. Maybe a second one as well just for Californians to use.


I'd hold onto that $10 bet:

Nothing Without Hope (1000+ posts) Wed Jul-05-06 11:19 AM
Response to Original message
70. "Dead"? My bet: this is a disappearance so that Kenny Boy can go live
Edited on Wed Jul-05-06 11:24 AM by Nothing Without Hope
the rest of his life in luxurious comfort. I really do doubt that he's actually dead.

If he he IS actually dead, then I doubt it was natural. Maybe someone thought he might talk.

The timing and the situation are just too, too pat.

And the corporate-owned media have been just too, too compliant to the bushies' wishes.

I won't believe it until there is stronger evidence than these initial reports. And, dammit, I dislike wondering about conspiracies like this, but it really does seem more likely that the bushies and/or others Lay paid off have helped him to escape prison time. You know he must have enormous sums stashed away secretly in numbered accounts elsewhere in the world.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1568873
 
dmp said:
Hey girl - it's not me - it's THEM. It's YOU people...Wait. I know it'll happen because Liberals LIVE to tie Bush to bad people.

First, I think you're being silly. Sounds like it's YOU people who are already defending Bush when, at least in my view, he isn't part of the equation. Moreover, Lay had already testified to everything he was gonna talk about, so nothing else is at issue.

Second, Bush was already connected to Kenny-Boy... but not his death. Ya know, hon? :spank3:
 
jillian said:
Ummmmmmm...Steffie, you do know that DU is a really small percentage of dems, right?

I mean...Pat Robertson doesn't exemplify mainstream Republicans, does he? ;)

:teeth:
 
jillian said:
Why do you have to take something that pretty much all of us can agree on and make it about Bush, Darin.

You can leave Bush out of it. Ken Lay is very firmly esconsed in hell right about now.
Darin is merely making a prediction based on years of observation....

If you heat water to 212 degrees Fahrenheit at standard atmospheric pressure and it boils, repeat the experiment 100 times and observe the same result on each try, then it is reasonable to predict that, on the 101st trial, the water will again boil.

The libs have been running a similar experiment for the past six years.... To put it succinctly, according to libs of the past six years, everything is Bush's fault and everything evil in the world has something to do with Bush, doesn't that summarize it?

P.S. and let's not forget, boys and girls, that Ken Lay pulled his fast ones before Bush became president!!!!!
 
jillian said:
First, I think you're being silly. Sounds like it's YOU people who are already defending Bush when, at least in my view, he isn't part of the equation. Moreover, Lay had already testified to everything he was gonna talk about, so nothing else is at issue.

Second, Bush was already connected to Kenny-Boy... but not his death. Ya know, hon? :spank3:


Does it hurt? Being obtuse?
 
jillian said:
I was hoping that he'd die in prison. Maybe they should take the body and have it lay in state somewhere that all the people whose pensions he stole can spit on it.


I do love liberal compassion - to bad I never see any
 
KarlMarx said:
Darin is merely making a prediction based on years of observation....

If you heat water to 212 degrees Fahrenheit at standard atmospheric pressure and it boils, repeat the experiment 100 times and observe the same result on each try, then it is reasonable to predict that, on the 101st trial, the water will again boil!

I hear ya. Can you say "Whitewater"....
 
I, for one, won't be shedding any tears over "Kenny Boy" Lay's passing. Although I would have much rather he had served his time in prison playing "drop the soap" with the yard bulls.

But he'll be waiting, there in Hell, with arms wide open for Chimpy.
 
Bullypulpit said:
I, for one, won't be shedding any tears over "Kenny Boy" Lay's passing. Although I would have much rather he had served his time in prison playing "drop the soap" with the yard bulls.

But he'll be waiting, there in Hell, with arms wide open for Chimpy.

Parting shot for Bush aside, you know Lay wouldnt have done any "Hard" time.
 
I was posting about this on another board tonight and one of the replies to the thread was this:

Too bad Nt doesn't understand facts from hate. I posted some facts she sees it as hate.

If it's the truth as a liberal sees it, how can it be considered hate? It's a fact.


This poster made two posts about Ken Lay's death, and GWB, that I replied to and simply said Hate example 1 and Hate example 2.
 

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