The federal judge who presided over the criminal trial of Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay and ex-CEO Jeffrey Skilling on Friday agreed to delay the Sept. 11 sentencing of the two men. Their lawyers were given an extra six weeks to prepare arguments for the court that will ultimately determine how long the former executives spend in prison.

A jury in May convicted Skilling of 19 of the 28 fraud, conspiracy and insider trading charges against him. Lay was found guilty on all 10 fraud and conspiracy charges. The sentencing decision by U.S. District Judge Sim Lake will be based in part on the amount of money lost in the Enron scandal that can be directly tied to the crimes in which Skilling and Lay were convicted.

Lake set the sentencing for 1 p.m. Oct. 23 after hearing arguments by the defense lawyers who said they needed up to 45 more days to prepare for the complex sentencing.

Lake turned down a request by the defense for a separate hearing to decide issues related to the government’s attempt to seize Lay’s and Skilling’s assets. Lake said he will decide that request after receiving all of the related motions. Skilling’s assets, like Lay’s are frozen. However, Skilling’s lawyers want to unfreeze about $60 million of his assets, which they claim were linked to the insider trading charges he was found innocent of. The government also wants to seize Lay’s $5 million condominium in Houston.

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