Jeffrey Skilling is innocent?

OK, I had always thought he was guilty and the fact that they have reduced his sentence by 11 years but not quashed it entirely seems to indicate that he is still to be considered guilty, well sort of .....

Apparently the fact that he is going to pay out $40 million of his personal fortune to help people who lost money in the Enron crash has helped get his sentence reduced. Money he made trading Enron shares, one wonders? Nice to think you have 40 million to dish out even if you are sitting in jail waiting another 4 years now before you can get out.

As someone who has never committed a criminal offence in his life, I wonder what I would suddenly do if I had even 4 million - dollars or Euro - tomorrow. Apart from donating sums to WWF and other worthwhile causes that is. Maybe if I had been suitably dishonest ..... As it is 4,000 Euro would make a considerable difference.

Honesty is the best policy? Maybe and then again .....

Anyway one person whose wisdom was out there in Cyber Space put me to rights yesterday.

Jeffrey Skilling was not guilty. In fact he was a victim facing what many Americans, rich and poor alike, were facing - the international banksters who were a very threat to their (= "USA") Republic. These banksters who were backed by the UN ..... All a plot by these foreigners to bring America down. Free Skilling now!

It got funnier by the second. If there were any logic to this you would think that there wasn't a single dishonest fraudster in jail in the US at all. Even Bernie Madoff should be freed, if you take it to its logical conclusion. And Andy Fastow from Enron who exposed Skilling's (and the late Kenneth Lay's) shady dealings at Enron? Obviously a spy, a foreign agent .....

Well if you have read some of the stuff from supporters of the EXP (also known as the UKIP), you get use to this stuff (polite word) about foreigners causing all the problems - it is not a strictly American phenomenon. Some people in the UKIP don't like the Scots too much either, and think Wales is a distinct financial liability.

Anyway back to Skilling.

I have been reading up further on the subject today (not had that much time, too much work), but I try as ever to be even handed.

Surprisingly there are quite a few people out there (including, interestingly in India!) who think that Skilling is indeed innocent - even if - unlike the case above - they think that Andy Fastow was as guilty as the proverbial sin.

Example:

http://www.economist.com/node/10873801?zid=317&ah=8a47fc455a44945580198768fad0fa41

And note that the Economist is originally British and notably conservative.

On the other hand you have - American and liberal:

http://occupydemocrats.com/scandalous-enron-fraud-mastermind-jeff-skilling-offered-10-year-sentenced-reduction/    

Read both, and other relevant stuff, and make up your own mind. Meanwhile if anyone knows a way I can make 40 million dollars or Euro very quickly and not get found out, please let me know!