In a court filing, federal prosecutors will attempt to hold former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling liable for all criminal "proceeds attributable to all co-conspirators, indicted or unindicted" -- including those of the late Kenneth Lay.
The government made its request last week, asking Judge Sim Lake to enter a $182.8 million judgment against Skilling, who was convicted in May on 18 counts of fraud and conspiracy and one count of insider trading.
In June, prosecutors issued their initial request for a money judgment -- asking for $139.3 million from Skilling and $43.5 million from Lay. Less than a week later, Lay died of heart problems. Prosecutors say while Lay's death may cause the guilty verdicts against him to be vacated; the criminal proceeds he helped to generate still exist. Lay had testified that he had personally been wiped out financially when Enron fell into bankruptcy.
Prosecutors say that Skilling has $55 million in assets, most of it tied up in municipal bonds that are frozen under a government seizure order. But Skilling has said that at least $30 million of that money is owed to his lawyers at O'Melveny & Myers. He initially paid the firm $23 million before the trial began in January.
Judge Lake would have to agree to issue a money judgment before the government could pursue Skilling for Lay's portion of the criminal proceeds.
