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Supreme Court to hear former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling’s appeal

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Chalk it up to the ghost of scandals past.

On the opening day of the trial of two Bear Stearns Cos. hedge fund managers, a prominent figure from the Enron scandal reappeared this morning when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear his appeal.

Jeffrey Skilling, Enron Corp.’s former chief executive, is seeking to overturn his 2006 conviction for securities fraud and other crimes associated with Enron’s monumental collapse in late 2001.

Known for his trademark scowl, Skilling is serving a 24-year sentence in a Colorado prison. Skilling could win a new trial if the Supreme Court sides with him.

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Skilling has argued that lower courts misapplied the so-called honest services statute on the grounds that the government did not prove that he sought to benefit personally from his actions.

A federal appeals court in New Orleans upheld his conviction in January, though it ruled that his prison sentence should be adjusted.

The monumental fall in late 2001 of Enron, once a globe-girdling energy giant that claimed to have ushered in a new era of energy trading, was the highest profile in a spate of corporate scandals that followed the late-1990s Internet boom.

Skilling was convicted alongside his one-time boss, Kenneth Lay. But Lay’s conviction was vacated following his death two months later.

-- Walter Hamilton

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