Ex-Enron CEO Seeks Separate Trial

Fri Aug 20, 2004

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Lawyers for former Enron Corp. (ENRNQ.PK: Quote, Profile, Research) chief executive Jeffrey Skilling on Friday asked a federal court to separate his trial from his former boss Ken Lay's on charges linked to the downfall of the energy company.

"When parsed, the government's case against Lay is entirely separate from the case against Skilling," according to a motion filed in U.S. District Court by Skilling's lawyers Daniel Petrocelli and Ron Woods.

In the motion, Skilling's lawyers also said many of the charges against him were not linked to his other co-defendant, former chief accounting officer Richard Causey, and should not be included in their trial.

Skilling and Causey are each facing more than three dozen charges connected to Enron's demise, while Lay is facing 11 charge.

One overlapping conspiracy charge grouping Skilling, Lay and Causey together was too vague, the filing said, and does not allege overt acts were done by Skilling and Lay together.

Skilling resigned as CEO of Enron just months before the high-flying energy trader collapsed into bankruptcy amid scandals that it hid billions of dollars in debt and manipulated its profit statements.

The new court filing argues that money laundering and insider trading charges brought against Skilling and Causey are unrelated, and Lay's charges for bank fraud had no connection to rest of the new indictment that was unsealed in July.

Skilling's filing, however, did not seek a separate trial from Causey on conspiracy and fraud charges that the two allegedly worked together on an off-the-books partnerships used to illegally burnish Enron's finances.

Lay filed a legal request last week for a separate trial, arguing in court papers that the charges against Enron's former chairman were unrelated to charges against Skilling and Causey.

Lay's lawyer Michael Ramsey had also asked U.S. District Court Judge Sim Lake for a trial start date in September, although the Lake indicated at a hearing last week he will not rule before October on the request for separate trials.

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