Former Chairman of Enron Is Indicted
Prosecutors from the Justice Department's Enron Task Force presented an indictment to U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Milloy in Houston on Wednesday. At prosecutors' request, the judge sealed the indictment and an arrest warrant, but they noted "the defendant" would surrender voluntarily.
A hearing before Milloy was scheduled for late Thursday morning.
Michael Ramsey, Lay's attorney, didn't immediately return a call for comment.
Prosecutors have aggressively pursued the one-time celebrity CEO and friend and contributor to President Bush who led Enron's rise to No. 7 in the Fortune 500 and resigned within weeks of its stunning failure. Barring last-minute delays, Lay is the 30th and highest-profile individual charged.
Enron's collapse led a series of corporate scandals that sent investors fleeing and sparked numerous investigations through 2002. Thousands of Enron's workers lost their jobs and stock fell from a high of $90 in August 2000 to just pennies.
It was unclear specifically what charges Lay would face.
But the sources said they probably would allege he participated in hiding Enron's dire financial condition from investors, analysts and the public in the weeks before the energy company crumbled into bankruptcy in December 2001.
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