After six days of quarreling with the prosecutor — and at times his own lawyer — Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay completed his turn in the witness chair early Tuesday, telling jurors that he loved Enron and that watching it collapse into bankruptcy was “the most painful thing” in his life.

Lay, 64, has been charged with six counts of wire and securities fraud related to statements he made as chairman and CEO of Enron between August 2001 and the following December, when Enron declared bankruptcy. Jeffrey Skilling, former COO and for six months CEO, has been charged with 28 counts of wire and securities fraud and insider trading. The case is expected to go to jurors toward the middle of the month.

It was a difficult six days for Lay, who argued frequently with prosecutor John Hueston. The U.S. attorney, who had doggedly pursued indictments against Lay and Skilling as a member of the Enron Task Force, challenged Lay repeatedly about his honesty and his recollections in his final cross-examination, asking him why he took responsibility for what happened at Enron but would not take responsibility for any of the alleged criminal activity.

“You have a long list of people to blame for Enron’s collapse, sir, and it gets longer and longer as you testify… And your list of people to blame and events to blame did not include yourself, did it, sir?”

“I did everything I could humanly do during this time,” Lay answered. “Did I make mistakes? I’m sure I did, Mr. Hueston. I had to make real-time decisions based on the information I had at the time.”

Dismissing prosecution charges that he only used Enron stock to meet margin calls and other obligations in 2001, Lay told his lawyer George Secrest in his redirect that he had used more than $7 million of his nonEnron assets in spring 2001 to pay off obligations and said he used more than $6 million of his other assets through the rest of 2001. Lay did not specify how much of the $13 million was used to meet margin calls on bank loans nor how much went to other personal obligations. And Lay noted he and his wife still held five million Enron shares and options when the company declared bankruptcy.

“I continued to have faith in Enron stock most of the way through 2001, certainly into November 2001,” Lay said.

In answer to charges of possible witness tampering, Lay admitted he tried to contact former Enron risk analyst Vince Kaminski “to see if he would meet me or have a cup of coffee…to discuss the case.” Kaminski turned him down. “He sent word that he was going to be a witness in this case and didn’t think we should talk until it was over… I was surprised he was going to be a witness in this case.”

He also tried to contact some employees at Goldman Sachs about a meeting at Enron in late 2001. “I was trying to see if they would meet with my lawyers.” He also told Secrest “it’s been incredibly difficult, almost impossible” to find witnesses to testify for the defense. “Each time they are contacted by the FBI, and they won’t talk to us.”

Martin Siegel, a New York-based lawyer, took the stand to tell jurors that Lay tried to settle the $7.5 million loan from Enron but that Hueston did not approve the settlement. The proposed settlement was in reaction to a lawsuit filed in 2003 by Enron’s creditor committee. Lay’s proposed settlement included a promise from Enron that it would not sue Lay in the future, and it requested the return of Lay’s Enron annuities, which would pay him about $80,000 a month for life.

Under cross-examination by prosecutor Sean Berkowitz, Siegel admitted he did not know whether Lay ever tried to pay off the Enron loan before the lawsuit was filed. And Siegel admitted Lay had attempted to have the creditor committee lawsuit dismissed. Siegel also did not remember if Enron’s board of directors had signed off on the proposed agreement or whether the board ever actually saw Lay’s proposed settlement.

In addition, Siegel agreed under cross that Lay has never repaid his loan to Enron, and that even though the settlement was not approved, it did not preclude him from settling with creditors if he had wanted to do so. Siegel also admitted he had prepared a motion for Lay to sue Enron for $50-60 million after the company declared bankruptcy, but the lawsuit was never filed.

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