Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling Tuesday lost a bid to have his convictions on 19 criminal counts overturned. U.S. District Judge Sim Lake, who presided over the four-month trial of Skilling and Enron founder Kenneth Lay, gave no explanation last week when she denied Skilling’s request.

Skilling filed a motion seeking a new trial or acquittal last month (see NGI, June 26). Skilling claimed he had been misled by the government about how it would use the infamous “Global Galactic” agreement in his trial (see NGI, March 13). The three-page handwritten document, purportedly between Skilling and ex-CFO Andrew Fastow, was considered a key piece of evidence against Skilling, listing assets sold by Enron to LJM, one of the company’s special purpose entities run by Fastow, which allowed Enron to remove poorly performing assets from its balance sheet. In his filing, Skilling said he would have had the document forensically examined for authenticity if he had known it would be used against him in court.

Skilling also had sought to interview jurors from his trial with Lay.

Not surprisingly, the government opposed Skilling’s motion for a new trial, arguing that his filing did not come within seven business days of his conviction, as required by law (see NGI, July 17). Government lawyers also argued that a forensic examination of the Global Galactic document would not have mattered since the original was not used. They called his attempt to interview jurors a “fishing expedition.”

Skilling, who has said he will appeal, is to be sentenced Oct. 23. He also is awaiting rulings from Lake on other issues, including one on whether he must pay $139.3 million, which prosecutors maintain he received through acts of fraud. Skilling lawyer Daniel Petrocelli has asked Lake for a nonjury trial on issues related to seizure of Skilling assets, millions of which have been frozen since his indictment in February 2004. Petrocelli has said that since Skilling was acquitted on nine of 10 insider trading counts the bulk of the money alleged to have come from illegal stock sales should be released.

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