Ken Lay nearly broke, may go bankrupt

[warrens]

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Former Enron Chairman and CEO Ken Lay has seen his personal fortune eaten away by the collapse of the energy trader and his legal problems, and he could be forced to file for bankruptcy protection, according to a published report.

The New York Times reported that Lay's stated net worth is now less than $650,000, down from as much as $400 million before Enron's downfall in 2001.

And the Times said that latest valuation is probably on the optimistic side. It includes an estimated $1.9 million held in a trust that the paper reports is almost sure to be consumed by legal fees.


SNIP

http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/27/news/newsmakers/lay/index.htm

[burythehatchet]

1. *sob*

:(
:nopity:

[Dinger]

2. So, Might He Sing Since * Has Apparently Left Him High & Dry?

Just asking.

[acmejack]

6. I will look for him him the local soup line.

He still has all those expensive clothes and that wrist watch will pawn for a nice chunk of change. He isn't that bad off yet...

[mac56]

3. He's not worried.

The Family will always take care of "Kenny Boy".

[Critters2]

4. $650,000?!

How's a man supposed to get by?! My heart bleeds.

:eyes:

[warrens]

17. Snicker. That's two days pay for his lawyers

I'll reserve a shopping cart for him in my neighborhood and give him first shot at our dumpsters.

[Canuckistanian]

5. I read this earlier - the 650k may be optimistic

Almost everything he has is in trust pending his trial results.

And that's not even counting the investor civil suits being lined up against him.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer scumbag.

[joeunderdog]

38. BULLSHIT. Remember Harken?

Anyone pulling off that kind of financial heist has a nest egg stashed away. Anderson Accounting pioneered Enronian math in Harken, a BushCo enterprise that specialized in funny money.

"Harken's $25 million stock offering in 1987, for example, was underwritten by a Little Rock, Arkansas, brokerage house, Stephens, Inc., which placed the Harken stock offering with the London subsidiary of Union Bank -- a bank that had surfaced in the scandal that resulted in the downfall of the Australian Labor government in 1976 and, later, in the Nugan Hand Bank scandal. (It was also Union Bank, according to congressional hearings on international money laundering, that helped the now-notorious Bank of Credit and Commerce International skirt Panamanian money-laundering laws by flying cash out of the country in private jets, and that was used by Ferdinand Marcos to stash 325 tons of Philippine gold around the world.)"

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1992/09/bushboys.html

Anyone wanna bet that Kenny Boy doesn't go anywhere without his limo?

[Canuckistanian]

43. OK, but I was just going by the article

They said that there was an intensive search and no hidden funds.

I would tend to believe your story, but it would require massive laundering (Hmm, UAE banks?)

[joeunderdog]

47. The SEC investigator was Poppy's lawyer.

Neat how that works.

[NanceGreggs]

7. Where is it he lives again?

Oh, yeah, now I remember -

It's somewhere along the CRY-ME-A-F#CKING RIVER!

:nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

[rucky]

8. You know they all hide their money offshore.

I'm not buying it for a second. Even with all the attorneys involved.

[Just Me]

11. Yep.

I'm not buying, either. These men are con artists, head to toe.

[Junkdrawer]

15. Judge, I'd LOVE to pay the investor settlement but....

:eyes:

[threadkillaz]

9. Preppin us for the pardon

Ahhhh poor guy, cry me a river.

[tigereye]

10. that guy should be in jail -

let's hope that's where he's headed. All those folks he cheated don't get bankruptcy protection, I'll wager.

[Critters2]

23. Then he'd have 3 hots and a cot

That should be some confort for him, seein' as how he's penniless and destitute.

[A Simple Game]

30. 3 hots? Must be one of them Country Club prisons. n/t

[Junkdrawer]

12. Anyone else's Bullshit Meter pegging?

How the fuck do you spend $400 million in 5 years?

He wants to hide his assets from investor lawsuits.

[Scout1071]

13. Cry me a mutha-fuckin' river. Where is the money?

Where has he hidden the money? It didn't just disappear.

[PassingFair]

18. High heating bills in several of his residences?

Do you WANT to start a CLASS WAR?

Why do you hate America?

:sarcasm:

[philosophie_en_rose]

14. Just desserts.

Poor, poor Ken Lay experiences a taste of what all of the people he betrayed are feeling.

Pardon me, if I don't cry.

Pardon me, if I laugh.

:bounce:

[sinkingfeeling]

16. Oh, please, I can't stop crying about this poor man.

[Junkdrawer]

19. So, the guy charged with hiding Enron's assets offshore...

NOW says that $400 million has disappeared. :eyes:

(Honey, have you seen my hip boots. Getting kinda deep in here.)

[in_cog_ni_to]

20. Well, does that include all the MILLIONS he's got hidden

in the Cayman Islands in his secret off-shore bank accounts?:eyes: I don't believe one word of this. He's not going to go bankrupt. IF he does file bankruptcy it will be to get out of paying back all the money he stole from the Enron employees. Then he'll just move overseas somewhere and enjoy his millions over there.

[marions ghost]

27. riiiight....

boo hoo

He's got plenty hidden away...or where did it go?

[gatorboy]

21. I don't buy it. Types like him live for Swiss bank accounts.

This entire story is a pity party for poor Lay who , more than likely, has a nice nest egg stashed somewhere...

[bleedingheart]

22. He will go broke and HOWEVER his Wife's assets are just fine

and that is probably how the money has been hidden in the Swiss bank account or in the Cayman Islands..

[Just Me]

26. There you go!!! That's EXACTLY how it works!!! eom

[MADem]

37. She should divorce his ass--I mean really, who wants to be known as

MRS. LAY?????

Mrs. Chef, Mrs. Efficient, Mrs. Name Yer Talent...but Mrs. Lay? Sounds like a porno star for the geriatric set!

[bleedingheart]

39. you know...that is really funny...

it would be even funnier if her name were Goody...hahahaha

[MADem]

41. Well, ya got yer Mrs. Butterworth, yer Mrs. Dash...but that guy is

an argument for a woman keeping her birth name!

[adriennui]

24. i feel good

like i knew i would , however he probably divided assets between his wife and children.

[0rganism]

25. This may be the only positive to come from the new bankruptcy laws

There's a part of me that really digs the idea of Mr. Lay as the victim of legislation enacted by those he worked so hard to empower.

[chelsea0011]

28. Oh, really? How can I contribute to his defense fund?

:sarcasm:

[neoblues]

29. No way he'll ever really lose everything...

Somehow, he has fortunes that can't be touched (and as someone pointed out, his wife's wealth won't be attached--and who knows how much of that was really his but cleverly moved). I'd be surprised to see him actually punished in any significant way, in the end... beyond the losses given over to his lawyers anyway. Still, nothing could be more just than to see the guy stripped of every penny and tossed in jail for at least a number of years. Tack on a divorce by his wife and he'd finally be brought to a level resembling that of many of the employees of his company. Of course, even then, with the good-ol' boy wealthy friends--he'd probably be given employment as CEO or VP or whatever of some company/s and so regain a wealthy lifestyle (albeit one substantially less than his Enron days).

Sadly, though, I feel no compassion for him or other "wealthy" people. I suppose there must be some decent people with wealth, but even if a wealthy person was a true saint--I wouldn't have the slightest sorrow at the prospect of them being reduced to having to work for a living like the rest of us. The growth of the wealthy (aristocracy) is one of, if not "the", biggest causes of the problems our country faces--particularly regarding the sorry state of affairs for the poor and middle-class and emphatically the case when considering the fact our government is no longer responsive to the majority of it's people (indeed, one needs to be wealthy or sell their souls to the wealthy to even participate in national politics). While socialism has never really been implemented in a fully attractive or successful way, there's much to be said for the notion that resources/wealth should be more equitably distributed among the people. Yet the wealthy seem to prefer not to even provide basic assistance to those who suffer from poverty--including those in the middle classes who've fallen upon hard times. No, there's no sympathy in me for them. Of course, if I were wealthy... like them I'd probably feel like I deserved it and dislike having to share--it's probably just one of those ugly things about human nature... So, in some ways, thank goodness I'm not wealthy; and I still would rather everyone be put in similar circumstances--such that we'd all feel more equal and realize that when it comes to life, we really are "all in it together".

[Taverner]

31. There's MONEY (wink wink) in the Banana Stand!!!

[MrBenchley]

32. And how much dough has he got hidden in the Caymans?

Fuck him...let him go to legal aid like a common thief.

[cascadiance]

44. My thoughts exactly!

He's trying to milk the system for what he can get before leaving, just like Wal-Mart tries to milk the system for it's underpaid employees.

[Junkdrawer]

33. The judge should appoint a public defender IMMEDIATELY...

Next one up in the indigent rotation... :evilgrin:

[blondeatlast]

46. LOL!

:rofl: :evilgrin: :rofl: :evilgrin: :rofl: :evilgrin:

[tjwash]

34. Everybody now, one....two....three....

awwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Although I'll bet you money he still goes everywhere in a helicopter. What. You didn't honestly think the new bankruptcy bill applied to HIM did you?

[undergroundpanther]

35. May he suffer

May he be sick and have no health care,compassion or help. May he haunt soup kitchens and beg for winter clothes and may he be spat on by 'young professionals'and hated everywhere he goes because he is unable to shower.May he ride busses to escape the cold,may cops kick him off park benches for sleeping,kick him on the sidewalk for existing,beat him up for daring to ask a middle class tourist for money to buy a coffee after he was kept awake by cops gunfire and cold.
May he live how the people he disdained live for the rest of his miserable fucking life.May he be found huddled in dirty shit stained blankets frozen to death on the street alone.

May he suffer..as he saw it fit for others to suffer and felt no empathy twords them. Let him know how the"other half lives" not for a rich guys slumming holiday but for the REST OF HIS DAYS!

[xchrom]

36. i feel NOTHING for that insincere little tapeworm.

i hope he's a feast for the carrion eaters.

but i'm sure the right wing holy squad will come to his rescue -- if they haven't already.

which is -- i'm guessin -- a story we're not hearing about.

[louis-t]

40. Everybody all together now.....

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
By the way, he may not qualify for bankruptcy under the new laws. Wouldn't that be a bite in the ass?

[hopeisaplace]

42. Karma's a bitch.

[blondeatlast]

45. Boo. Fucking. Hoo. Er, I mean

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

Yes it's cruel to wish ill on others (my family had to declare bankruptcy, too).

But if ever there were a more worthy "victim," I dare you to show me.

[KyuzoGator]

48. Probably getting poor hiring 24-hour bodyguards.

I know that about 50% of the population of Houston wants his head on a platter.

[npincus]

49. maybe he can sell his teeth on eBay