Skilling takes last breath of freedom

By Guto Harri
North America business correspondent, BBC News

Skilling was found guilty of fraud, insider trading and conspiracy

There were no handcuffs and no deliberate attempt to humiliate.

Jeffrey Skilling was not marched from the courtroom to the cells.

But the former darling of corporate America was wearing a security tag on his ankle when he stepped into the street to face the press.

I couldn't see the modern monitoring device, but a policeman assured me it was there.

For a man worth more than $50m who used to run the seventh largest corporation in the United States, that can't have felt good.

It was - no doubt - a price worth paying for a few more nights in his luxurious mansion.

Equal under the law

But it will serve as a stark reminder that he is now on borrowed time.

Less than half a mile from the courtroom, the sun bounced off the shiny skyscraper which used to house Enron's HQ.

Jeffrey Skilling might have seen the courthouse from his old office - and wondered perhaps what it was like to be poor and persecuted.

The law on this occasion has proved very egalitarian.

One of the things that the world needs to know is that when people commit fraud the little people are the victims Lynn Sakko, lawyer

Daniel Petrocelli, Skilling's lawyer, is believed to have recently invoiced Skilling for another $30 million in legal fees.

Was the money well spent?

In court he was impressive. Outside he was charming.

Many times he made me wonder if prosecuting Jeffrey Skilling had been a terrible mistake. Or a vindictive act by a system that needed a scapegoat.

Unpleasant task

The jury decided otherwise.

And in boardrooms across America, no-one needs any help interpreting what Enron means to them

Judge Sim Lake disclosed that handing out heavy sentences is the unpleasant part of his job.

He finds it difficult to send a 52-year-old like Skilling to an institution when he will barely see his second wife and three children for more than two decades.

But Enron's collapse, in his words, imposed a "life sentence" of poverty on thousands of former employees. He also pointed out that the guidelines issued by Congress left him little room for manoeuvre.

Skilling's lawyer was persuasive - but not quite persuasive enough

In the eyes of the law, offences such as fraud, conspiracy and insider trading are now on a par with rape, murder and treason - and the punishment reflects that.

Who are the victims?

Skilling clearly thinks the sentence is unfair. His lawyer suggested that the six- or seven-year jail terms handed out to those who co-operated with prosecutors in this case would have been more appropriate.

And there are many experts who wonder whether the noble desire to clean up corporate America has swung the law too far the other way.

Lynn Sakko, in that context, has food for thought.

I met him outside court representing an elderly man who'd spent 33 years at Enron.

And in a few sentences he summarised the moral motivation for this sentence - let alone the practical and legal one.

"One of the things that the world needs to know is that when people commit fraud the little people are the victims," he said.

"These aren't hedge funds who lost money. These aren't wealthy investors.

"These are people who lost their retirement savings - and that was all they had."