U.S. drops bid to reinstate Lay's convictions for Enron fraud

That was expected..


The U.S. government dropped an attempt to restore the convictions of Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay, who died six weeks after being found guilty of spearheading the fraud that destroyed the company.

The government moved yesterday to withdraw a Nov. 16 notice of an appeal of Lake's decision. Steven Tyrrell, chief of the Justice Department's fraud section, said in the document the government made the move after a bill to change the law was introduced in Congress. He didn't elaborate.``Now, from a criminal standpoint, Ken Lay is forever exonerated,'' said Ed Tomko, a former federal prosecutor who defended another Enron executive against fraud charges.Tomko said efforts to change the law are ``largely meaningless'' to Lay's criminal case, because lawmakers can't apply punishments retroactively.``It might mean something to the next case,'' Tomko said. ``But the government is already chasing Ken Lay's money in a civil case.''U.S. authorities last month filed a civil forfeiture case against Lay's estate, seeking $12.5 million for victims of Enron's collapse.

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