SKILLING GETS 24 YEARS IN
PRISON FOR ENRON FRAUD

From the Houston Chronicle:

"This is not an easy decision,'' Lake said. "Sentencing is the most difficult and least pleasant part of my job Mr. Skilling has a family who loves him.''

He added, however, "His crimes have imposed on hundreds if not thousands, a life sentence of poverty."

Lake's sentence, more precisely 292 months, also ordered Skilling to participate in alcohol and mental health programs. He also approved the forfeiture of $45 million to be distributed to Enron employees.

And

To others, the timing of Skilling's sentencing, after most of the other large corporate scandals such as WorldCom and Adelphia have played out, brings a tidy end to an era of white-collar crime.

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Okay, I can accept this as justice. I mean, how do you really determine what amount of time ought to be served for giving "hundreds if not thousands, a life sentence of poverty?" I suppose life wouldn't be out of line. Certainly not death: I don't approve of that for anybody, no matter what their crime. Still, twenty four years is a long time, especially for a guy at Skilling's age. And it's hard time--the judge rejected Skilling serving out his sentence in one of those cushy mimimum security prisons. The forfeiture is icing on the cake, but won't do nearly enough to help out the investors and employees that he robbed. So cool. I guess.

But what bugs me about this is that anyone at all thinks this means the end of "an era of white-collar crime." That's just so fucking stupid. The GOP Congress passed only what amounted to window dressing in terms of reform after all the scandals broke, which means that, legally, the stage continues to be set for more fraud. Sure, yeah, the capitalist crowd is being more careful these days--the only reason all these guys got busted in the first place was that the conventional wisdom was such that they had all the authorities in their pockets, and would never be held accountable. Well, guess what? They still have all the authorities in their pockets and the Enron induced fear over Wall Street is only going to last another couple of years at most.

None of this even addresses the fact that the vast majority of immoral corporate acts are already perfectly legal because they've written all the laws! The era of white-collar crime has only just begun.

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