Kenneth

In some of the most damaging testimony so far in the trial of Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay and ex-CEO Jeffrey Skilling, David Delainey, who once headed the wholesale gas trading unit, testified Tuesday the company played “fast and loose” with accounting rules, and financial tricks were “standard operating procedure.

The defense team for Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling continued its attack against the prosecution’s lead witness last week, with former investor relations chief Mark Koenig spending the entire week on the witness stand in Houston. In testimony that was at times emotional and often tedious, the defense attempted to prove Koenig is wrong in his assertions that Lay and Skilling lied to investors and financial analysts about the state of affairs at the once mighty company.

The two-man defense team representing Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling grilled the company’s ex-investor relations chief for the sixth day in a row Thursday, attempting to lay the groundwork to prove their clients did nothing illegal in the months preceding the company’s bankruptcy.

Jurors in the trial of Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling were given a behind-the-scenes peek into the once mighty company on Wednesday, as the defense offered hours of audio and videotape from financial presentations and employee webcasts, some of which mixed business presentations with self-congratulatory pep rallies.

Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling never broke the law, never stole any money and never lied to the public about hiding billions of dollars in losses, defense attorneys told jurors last week as the trial of the former top executives took center stage in Houston. The prosecution, however, relying on actual statements and an eyewitness, began to show how the ex-executives attempted to deceive the public in the months preceding Enron’s implosion.

Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling never broke the law, never stole any money and never lied to the public about hiding billions of dollars in losses, defense attorneys told jurors Tuesday in opening statements. However, the prosecution claimed the opposite is true, supported by actual statements and eyewitnesses, which demonstrate how the ex-executives attempted to deceive the public in the months preceding Enron’s implosion.

Opening arguments were expected to begin Tuesday in the trial of former Enron Corp. Chairman Kenneth Lay and CEO Jeffrey Skilling, after a 12-member jury and four alternates were chosen Monday in Houston. Lay, 63, faces seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. Skilling, 52, faces 31 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and deceiving auditors. Following the joint trial, Lay also faces four charges of bank fraud involving his personal banking.

Former Enron Corp. Chairman Kenneth Lay and CEO Jeffrey Skilling tried once again Wednesday to delay their trial, which is set to begin on Monday. The two men’s legal teams requested that the pending trial be delayed until the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals considers a request to move the trial out of Houston.

As the trial for former Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay and CEO Jeffrey Skilling draws closer, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake signaled he plans to let the opposing parties put on their respective cases — without a lot of innuendo and gossip. The case, which is scheduled to begin Jan. 30, will exclude tapes from ex-Enron traders joking about stealing money from California grandmothers, and it will not include former CFO Andrew Fastow’s apparent penchant for viewing pornography on his company computer.