The prison sentence of Jeffrey K. Skilling, the former chief executive of Enron who spearheaded the pervasive fraud that destroyed the energy company, was reduced by 10 years on Friday after a federal judge approved a deal between his lawyers and prosecutors. Hit the jump.
Judge Simeon T. Lake III of Federal District Court in Houston, who oversaw Mr. Skilling’s trial in 2006, signed off on an agreement that will decrease his 24-year sentence to 14 years.
The reduction was driven in part by a 2009 appeals court ruling that ordered a recalculation of Mr. Skilling’s sentence because of a mistake made by the judge in interpreting the federal sentencing guidelines.
Mr. Skilling, 59, who has been serving his sentence at a federal prison in Colorado, appeared in court on Friday wearing an olive-drab prison uniform and a salt-and-pepper beard, and looking bulkier than he did during his days as a corporate chieftain.
He will now exit prison as early as 2017. There is no parole in the federal criminal justice system, but Mr. Skilling will most likely receive the standard 15 percent sentence reduction for good behavior and a one-year reduction for completing an alcohol-abuse treatment program.
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via NYTimes
