Getting layed back in style?
Former Enron Chairman Ken Lay addressed a sold-out luncheon audience today at the Houston Forum.
According to the Houston Chronicle …
Lay blamed former Enron executives Andrew Fastow and Michael Kopper for despicable and criminal deeds that brought down the company. “We did trust Andy Fastow and sadly, tragically, that trust turned out to be fatally misplaced,” he said.
Flanked on the podium by Texas and U.S. flags, and a gold and red-themed Christmas tree, Lay read from a prepared text in which he attacked the Enron Task Force and Justice Department for prosecuting the accounting firm Arthur Andersen, destroying the company and then dropping the case. He said the task force has been attempting to criminalize normal business practices.
Lay said most of what has been reported about the company has been false or distorted, and attributed its collapse to the financial community. The company’s trading partners lost confidence in Enron, Lay said, clearly signaIing a “run on the bank” defense.
Thanks to TPM Reader AG for the tip.
