Enron founder facing life in jail for fraud dies, aged 64

ENRON founder Kenneth Lay, who was convicted of helping perpetuate one of the most sprawling business frauds in US history, has died aged 64.

Nicknamed “Kenny Boy” by US President George W Bush, Lay led Enron’s meteoric rise from a staid natural gas pipeline company, formed by a 1985 merger, to an energy and trading conglomerate that reached number seven on the Fortune 500, in 2000, and claimed more than $100 billion in annual revenues.

Lay died of a heart attack yesterday in Aspen, Colorado, his pastor in Houston said.

“Apparently, his heart simply gave out,” said Pastor Steve Wende of Houston’s First United Methodist Church. Lay, who lived in Houston, frequently vacationed in Colorado.

He was convicted on May 25 along with former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling of defrauding investors and employees by repeatedly lying about Enron’s financial strength in the months before the company plummeted into bankruptcy protection in December 2001.

Lay was also convicted in a separate non-jury trial of bank fraud and making false statements to banks, charges related to his personal finances.

Lay, who faced life in prison, was scheduled to be sentenced later this year.

Enron collapsed after it was revealed the company’s finances were based on a web of fraudulent partnerships and schemes, not the profits that it reported to investors and the public.

When Lay and Skilling went on trial earlier this year it had been expected that Lay, who enjoyed great popularity throughout Houston as Enron chairman, might be able to charm the jury. But during his testimony, Lay came across as irritable and combative.

He also sounded arrogant, defending his extravagant lifestyle, including a $200,000 yacht for wife Linda’s birthday party, despite $100 million in personal debt and saying “it was difficult to turn off that lifestyle like a spigot”.

Lay and Skilling consistently maintained that there had been no wrongdoing at Enron.