As his trial on charges of fraud and conspiracy in Enron’s collapse approaches, Enron founder and ex-CEO Ken Lay has taken the unusual step of going public with his protestations of innocence. In a speech before 500 business and academic leaders at the Houston Forum, Mr. Lay proclaimed his innocence, and asked former Enron employees to come forward and testify on his behalf.
More astonishing than Mr. Lay’s temerity was the reason he gave to explain why no one had come forth to date. As the AP reports:
He accused the government of bullying potential witnesses who could help him and promised to testify in his own defense.
“Truth is a great rock,” he said, quoting Winston Churchill. “Whether it will continue to be submerged by a wave — a wave of terror by the Enron Task Force — will be determined by former Enron employees.”
What, if anything, is this man thinking?
At the same time he was appealing to what he imagines to be the loyalty of former employees, he also indulged in some finger-pointing.
Lay also insisted that Enron was strong until former finance chief Andrew Fastow hatched schemes that fueled financial rot, and that he didn’t know he had entrusted company finances to a crook.
So let’s look at our scorecards for a moment. Mr. Lay has
- Protested his innocence, apparently by saying that he was too dumb to notice that anything was wrong
- Accused the government of bullying witnesses
- Equated the Enron Task Force with terrorists
- Appealed to the loyalty of former colleagues to testify on his behalf, presumably to the effect that it’s no surprise that he was too dumb to notice that anything was wrong
- Pointed the finger at former colleagues
- And in general acted foolishly. Maybe he’s hoping that if his behavior is idiotic enough, a jury will actually believe that he was too dumb to notice that anything was wrong.
Professional observers are aghast.
“This is the kind of speech that can really raise the ire of judges if it can in any way be perceived as an attempt to influence the jury pool,” said Jacob Frenkel, a former federal prosecutor. “Getting up and speaking at this point is treading in dangerous territory.”
[US District Judge Sim] Lake has considered issuing a gag order on defendants, their lawyers and prosecutors. The government supported it, but the defense teams did not, and the judge said earlier this month he would monitor public statements and perhaps revisit the issue.
Michael Ramsey, Lay’s lead lawyer, said Tuesday he hoped his client’s speech wouldn’t prompt a gag order.
The ironies are all over the place here. Mr. Lay, after all, was once a big Bush supporter, but somehow sees fit to complain about the government’s conduct in the case. But perhaps most ironic is the appeal to his employees’ loyalty. If he thinks that the rank-and-file are likely to be loyal after the collapse of the company and its stock, which so many owned through their 401(k) plan, and if he thinks former executives are likely to be loyal after he has fingered Mr. Fastow, then Ken Lay must just live on another planet.
