Enron trial bios:
Ken Lay
Born in Tyrone, Missouri in April 1942, Ken Lay is the son of a Baptist preacher. In 1984, Lay merged his company, Houston Natural Gas, with Internorth, a pipeline company to create Enron. Lay served as the new company's CEO until February 2001, when he relinquished the role to Jeffrey Skilling. But Skilling abruptly quit six months later and Lay returned to Enron. Lay resigned in January 2002, more than a month after it filed bankruptcy. Lay, with his trademark folksy style, accepted responsibility for his company's collapse, but he pleads ignorance to any knowledge of crimes committed. He was criticized for selling a large amount of his Enron stock in 2001 as the company's share prices plummeted while encouraging his employees to purchase more. A federal grand jury indicted Lay in July 2004 charging him with securities fraud, wire fraud, and making false and misleading statements. He is a close friend of former President George H.W. Bush. Lay is a father of five and grandfather of eleven and lives in River Oaks, an upscale suburb just west of downtown Houston.
http://www.kenlayinfo.com
Jeffrey Skilling
On Thanksgiving Day 1953, Jeffrey Keith Skilling was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He received degrees from Southern Methodist University and Harvard in the 70s. Skilling joined Enron in 1990 working closely with its current CEO Ken Lay. In February 2001, Lay retired and Skilling was promoted to CEO. But he suddenly left six months later, for what he said were personal reasons. Weeks later the company's stock price would start to tumble and finally the company collapsed thirsty for liquidity in December of that year. In February 2004, a federal grand jury charged Skilling in a 36-count indictment related to the energy giant's collapse. He pleaded not guilty. Skilling remarried in 2002 but has three children from his first wife. His brother, Tom Skilling, is the longtime weatherman at WGN-TV Chicago Superstation.
Michael Ramsey - Lay's attorney
Better known as "Mike," Ramsey is the lead attorney for Enron founder and former CEO Ken Lay. Ramsey is a criminal defense attorney who has his own law practice just west of downtown Houston. The Texas Bar shows he received his law license after graduating from Southern Methodist University. Just before agreeing to represent Lay, Ramsey was part of the legal team, which successfully defended millionaire Robert Durst of a first degree murder charge. Ramsey and other attorneys argued Durst acted in self-defense when he shot and killed his neighbor, Morris Black, in Galveston. On his list of recommended attorneys at www.relentlessdefense.com, Kevin Mahoney says "unlike many "high profile" lawyers, Ramsey communicates in a straight forward, authentic manner. He is highly intelligent and shows no fear of the Federal government."
Daniel Petrocelli - Skilling's attorney
He's the lead attorney for former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling. Petrocelli, based in Los Angeles, has represented a series of clients in high profile cases. He represented plaintiffs in the wrongful death lawsuit brought against O.J. Simpson after the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Petrocelli helped win almost $60-million award in that case. Read more about him at: http://www.omm.com/webcode/navigate.asp?nodeHandle=31&idContent=2393
Sean M. Berkowitz was named Director of the Enron Task Force in July 2005. Berkowitz joined the Enron Task Force in December 2003, on assignment from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois, where he served as a Deputy Chief in the office's Criminal Division. Berkowitz is assigned as a lead prosecutor in the Lay/Skilling prosecution. During his five years with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago, Berkowitz handled a number of significant prosecutions, including a securities fraud case against officers of Anicom, Inc., a Chicago-based corporation, and a capital murder case involving the murder of a federal witness. Prior to joining the Justice Department, Berkowitz worked at the law firm of Katten Muchin Zavis, where he concentrated in white collar criminal defense and securities fraud litigation. Berkowitz graduated summa cum laude in 1989 from Tulane University, where he was first in his class, and cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1992.
Kathryn Ruemmler was named Deputy Director of the Enron Task Force in July 2005. Ruemmler joined the Enron Task Force in September 2003, on assignment from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, where she has served since 2001. Ruemmler was a lead prosecutor in the Bayly trial this past fall and is currently assigned as a lead prosecutor on the Lay/Skilling case. Ruemmler came to the U.S. Attorney's office from the Washington, D.C. office of Latham & Watkins, where she practiced criminal and civil litigation. Ruemmler also served as Associate Counsel to the President of the United States during the Clinton Administration, handling a wide-range of investigative matters. Prior to that, Ruemmler worked at Zuckerman Spaeder LLP in Washington, D.C., where she practiced white collar criminal defense. Ruemmler received her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1996, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the law review. After law school, she clerked for the Honorable Timothy K. Lewis of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. She received a B.A., cum laude with distinction, in English in 1993 from the University of Washington in Seattle.
John Hueston joined the Enron Task Force in January 2004. On detail from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Central District of California, Hueston was the Chief of the Southern Division in Orange County, California. Hueston is currently a lead prosecutor in the Lay/Skilling case. While serving as Chief, Hueston prosecuted a variety of cases that include a 10-defendant political corruption case relating to the award of $60 million waste disposal contracts, a $20 million mail fraud and money laundering scheme perpetrated by the CFO of a major international corporation, and a case involving the first elected official extortion conspiracy prosecuted in California. Hueston has won three Department of Justice Awards for Superior Performance and received the U.S. Army's second highest civilian award, the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal. Hueston joined the Justice Department from the firm of O'Melveny & Myers in 1994, and was promoted to the position of Senior Litigation Counsel in 1998. Hueston graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1986, and graduated from Yale Law School in 1991, where he served as a Notes Editor on the Yale Law Journal. Hueston served as a law clerk Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Cliff Stricklin joined the Enron Task Force in January 2005 and is assigned to the Lay/Skilling case. Judge Stricklin was also a lead prosecutor in the Broadband prosecution. Judge Stricklin formerly served as a Texas State District Judge and was the Presiding Judge of the Criminal District Courts in Dallas County. While on the bench, Judge Stricklin presided over several high profile criminal and capital murder cases. Prior to taking the bench, Judge Stricklin served as a federal prosecutor in the Plano Office of the Eastern District of Texas for more than 7 years were he prosecuted public corruption and white collar cases. In 1998 he received the Texas Department of Public Safety's Director's Award, the State's highest civilian award given for significant contributions to the mission of law enforcement. Judge Stricklin also was a principle author of the City of Dallas' Code of Ethics as a member of the city's Ethics Task Force. He has been on the faculty of Southern Methodist University's School of Law as an adjunct professor and an instructor of trial advocacy at the Attorney General's Advocacy Institute at the University of South Carolina. Additionally, prior to attending law school, Judge Stricklin served as an officer with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of Baylor University in Waco, Texas and received his J.D. from Washington & Lee University School of Law.
Judge Sim Lake
was sworn in as a United States District Judge for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, in September of 1988 after being appointed to the bench by former President George H.W. Bush. Lake graduated with honors from Texas A&M University in June of 1966 and received his law degree with high honors from the University of Texas School of Law in January of 1969. He served with the United States Army as a prosecutor with the 23rd Infantry Division in the Republic of Vietnam in 1971. At the time of his appointment he was a partner with Fulbright & Jaworski in Houston, where he was a civil trial lawyer. Lake served as a member of the Judicial Conference Committee on Criminal Law from 1999-2005, and was Chair from 2003-2005.
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