Coming on the heels of this earlier post on the Enron Task Force’s use of Ken Lay’s prior public statements to move for an early trial on the pending bank fraud charges pending against him, Mary Flood of the Chronicle reports that U.S. District Judge Sim Lake (picture on the left) has called a hearing in the case for next Friday to discuss scheduling matters in regard to the bank fraud charges against Mr. Lay.
Contrary to my earlier speculation, Ms. Flood speculates that Judge Lake — who does run an efficient docket — will schedule the bank fraud trial against Lay this summer before the bigger January 17, 2006 trial of the securities fraud charges against Mr. Lay and his co-defendants Jeff Skilling and Richard Causey.
This is a horrifying development not only for Mr. Lay, but also for Messrs. Skilling and Causey. The adverse publicity that will result from a trial of Mr. Lay six months before the trial of the multi-defendant case will be hard for the defendants to deal with in an environment that is already hostile to anyone associated with Enron.
Meanwhile, Ms. Flood also reports that there will be a panel discussion about the Enron scandal before the Houston premiere of Alex Gibney’s documentary, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room on April 19, which was the subject of this earlier post.
By the way, I have not been asked to participate on the panel. ;^)