Former Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling, 59, has reached agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice that could allow him to be free as soon as 2017, according to a court filing. Under the agreement, Skilling is waiving his rights to any further appeals and would allow more than $40 million of his forfeited assets to be distributed to victims of Enron’s colossal collapse in 2001. Skilling was convicted in 2006 by a Houston jury on 19 criminal counts and originally was sentenced to federal prison for 24 years and four months (see NGI, May 29, 2006). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans twice said the sentence had been miscalculated by the district court (see NGI, April 11, 2011). “The proposed agreement brings certainty and finality to a long painful process,” said Skilling lawyer Daniel M. Petrocelli. “Although the recommended sentence for Jeff would still be more than double any other Enron defendant, all of whom have long been out of prison, Jeff will at least have the chance to get back a meaningful part of his life.”

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