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(Photo: AP)
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Enron Corporation founder Kenneth Lay died of a heart attack July 5, 2006, while vacationing in Aspen, Colo. He was 64.
Lay had been convicted on May 25, 2006, of six counts of conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud in one of the biggest business scandals in U.S. history.
Lay had faced up to 45 years in prison and was scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 23.
The verdict put the blame for the 2001 demise of the high-profile energy trader, once the nation's seventh-largest company, squarely on its top executives -- Lay and Jeffrey Skilling.
The verdict came on the sixth day of deliberations following a trial that lasted nearly four months.
Lay was also convicted of bank fraud and making false statements to banks in a separate trial non-jury trial before U.S. District Judge Sim Lake related to Lay's personal banking. Those charges carry a maximum penalty of 120 years in prison.
A criminal indictment was brought against Lay on July 7, 2004 -- two-and a half years after the federal government launched its painstaking investigation into Enron's collapse. He surrendered to the FBI the following morning and pleaded innocent.
The indictment accused Lay of participating in a conspiracy to manipulate Enron's quarterly financial results. It also accused him of making public statements about Enron's financial performance that were false and misleading and omitting facts necessary to make financial statements accurate and fair. Click here to read the full indictment.
The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed civil fraud charges against Lay, including making false and misleading statements and insider trading.On March 28, 2006, as the prosecution rested its case in Lay's trial, a judge dropped one securities fraud count against him.
Lay founded Enron in 1985 when his Houston Natural Gas merged with InterNorth in Omaha, Neb. He became chairman and CEO the next year, and led Enron's rise to No. 7 in the Fortune 500. In February 2001, Jeffrey Skilling took over as CEO; Lay resumed the role when Skilling abruptly resigned on Aug. 14, 2001.
From 1996-2001, Lay was alleged to have sold more than 4 million shares of company stock for $184 million. He received bonuses of $18.1 million in 1997-2000.
Lay resigned as chairman and CEO Jan. 23, 2002, and resigned from the board less than two weeks later. He appeared before Congress in 2002 and invoked the Fifth Amendment.
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