Kenneth Lay pleads not guilty to charges

Thursday afternoon, after his indictment was unsealed, Lay took to the lectern to talk publicly about the charges against him and acknowledged he played a role in Enron’s downfall.

‘‘Failure does not equate to a crime,’’ Lay, who was free on bond, said before a phalanx of television cameras and reporters. ‘‘Although my lawyer and I do not believe that I should have been indicted, we want a speedy trial’’.

Looking and sounding confident, but with his face glistening with perspiration, Lay made a statement, and then told the gathered reporters that he would answer any of their questions.

The indictment by a federal grand jury in Houston includes charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and making false statements to banks.

The charges are the culmination of almost three years of investigation against Lay, who has previously said he has done nothing wrong.

‘‘We are confident in the documents that we have,’’ said Mike Ramsey, a lawyer for Lay. ‘‘They speak loudly, so far as who did what at the time’’.

‘‘With good will on both sides, and with the supervision of the court, we believe we can get a speedy trial, and we believe Ken should go first,’’ Ramsey said.

In the indictment, prosecutors added Lay as a defendant to an existing fraud indictment against Jeffrey K. Skilling, who succeeded Lay as chief executive and who was widely credited with transforming Enron from a staid pipeline business to an energy trading powerhouse.

That, the lawyers said, would allow prosecutors to portray the actions of all three men as part of one continuous criminal conspiracy to deceive investors about the true state of Enron’s finances. It would also allow a jury to hear the full context of the charges against Lay.

In charging Lay, the Justice Department’s Enron Task Force has reached the top of the corporate hierarchy at the company, which has been under broad investigation since it was forced into bankruptcy in December 2001, costing investors tens of billions of dollars and putting thousands of employees out of work. So far, criminal charges have been filed against some 30 people, including former executives and advisers who have been charged with aiding Enron in its deceit.

—(NYT)