Daily Archives: July 7, 2004

Ken Lay indicted

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A Houston federal grand jury has charged former Enron Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay with an unknown number of crimes today under a sealed indictment. The indictment will be unsealed in a hearing tomorrow morning, at which time Mr. Lay is expected to make his initial appearance in the criminal case. At the same time, the Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to charge Mr. Lay with an assortment of civil securities fraud charges.
Mr. Lay served as Enron’s chief executive for 15 years and was running the company when it collapsed into bankruptcy in December 2001. The indictment is expected to charge Mr. Lay for his alleged role in a broad scheme to manipulate Enron’s financial statements, similar to the charges that are pending against former Enron CEO and COO, Jeffrey Skilling and former chief Enron accountant, Richard Causey. Assuming that the indictment is as broad as the one against Messrs. Skilling and Causey, Mr. Lay will be facing what amounts to a life sentence in prison.
Meanwhile, this NY Times piece provides a good overview of the going concern liquidation of Enron’s assets that has been taking place in the company’s chapter 11 case.

Wacky World of Japanese Ice Cream

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It’s hot in Houston right now, so thoughts turn toward ice cream. But not these Japanese ice cream flavors. Hat tip to my nephew Richard for the link, I think. ;^)

Inquiry finds that chief Medicare actuary threatened over disclosure of true cost of prescription drug plan

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This NY Times article reports on the finding of an internal Department of Health and Human Services investigation that Thomas A. Scully, the former top Medicare administrator, threatened to fire Richard S. Foster, the program’s chief actuary, if Mr. Foster told Congress the true probable cost of the drug benefits to be provided under the Bush Administration’s Medicare prescription drug benefit legislation passed last year. Here is an earlier post on this flap.
Interestingly, the report concluded that neither the threat nor the withholding of information violated any criminal law. The report accepted the Justice Department’s view that Mr. Scully had the final authority to determine the flow of information to Congress and that the actuary had no independent authority to disclose information to Congress. Mr. Scully, who resigned in December, 2003, denied threatening Mr. Foster but acknowledged having told him to withhold the information from Congress.

Stros lose again

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The punchless Stros continued their quest to become an afterthought in the race for a playoff spot as they lost their second straight game to the Padres at Petco Park on Tuesday night, 5-3. The hapless Stros are now 42-41 on the season and nine games behind the Cards in the NL Central.
This game was fairly typical for this Stros team as they cranked out their usual 8 total bases, 4 of which came on Ausmus‘ solo yak in the fifth. With that crank, Ausmus finally achieved double figures in extra base hits this season — it took him “only” 67 games to do so. Alas, he still has hit into more double plays than extra base hits. Bags — the highest paid singles hitters in baseball — had a 2 run single, which completed the Stros’ offensive outburst. Starting pitcher Pete Munro was equally mediocre, giving up four runs and seven hits in four innings.
Roy O at least gives the Stros a chance on Wednesday night against the Pads’ Jake Peavy, who has one of the best ERA’s in the league. Just what the Stros’ hitters need at this point. After this game, the Stros travel to L.A. to face the Dodgers over the weekend in a four game set.