U.S. District Judge Sim Lake approved an agreed order that allows ex-Enron CEO Jeff Skilling to receive what could be approximately $1 million in annual interest earnings off a portion of the $66 million in assets that Judge Lake froze earlier pursuant to the Enron Task Force‘s request. Here is Judge Lake’s freeze order in the Skilling case.
As part of the deal that led to the agreed order, Skilling will abandon his appeal of Judge Lake’s earlier freeze order that granted the Task Force’s motion to freeze about $55 million of Skilling’s liquid assets, his River Oaks home in Houston, and a Dallas condo.
The judge’s new order allows $3.7 million from the frozen assets to be applied to a margin debt balance and also states that, if Skilling is convicted, the government could seek forfeiture of what remains of the $23 million funds in trust that one of Skillings’ law firm holds to defend Skilling in criminal and various civil lawsuits.
Skilling has pleaded not guilty to 35 charges in a 57 page indictment that accuses him and former Enron chief accountant Richard Causey of a wide range of securities fraud, false statements, insider trading and conspiracy charges. The Task Force alleges they lied and schemed to pump up Enron’s stock price to enrich themselves at the expense of the company and its shareholders. Defense lawyers for Skilling and Causey are expected to defend the cases primarily on the grounds that all of the deals that Skilling and Causey approved at Enron were were reviewed by numerous outside lawyers, consultants, and accountants who approved the deals.