WASHINGTON, D.C. - Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey, Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray of the Criminal Division, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and Enron Task Force Director Andrew Weissmann announced today that a federal grand jury in Houston has indicted former Enron Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kenneth L. Lay on charges of conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud and making false statements.
A superseding indictment returned by the grand jury in Houston Wednesday, and unsealed today, charges Lay, 62, of Houston, with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, four counts of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud, one count of bank fraud and three counts of making false statements to a bank. The superseding indictment joins Lay as a defendant in a case pending against former Enron CEO Jeffrey K. Skilling and former Enron Chief Accounting Officer Richard Causey. Causey was originally indicted in January 2004, and Skilling was added to the case in February 2004. The new indictment also adds a money laundering conspiracy count and four counts of money laundering against Causey in connection with fraudulent hedging vehicles, and expands certain factual allegations against Causey in connection with the securities fraud conspiracy. The case is pending before U.S. District Judge Sim Lake in Houston, Texas.