Lay faces another trial soon involving personal loans
Enron founder Ken Lay won’t settle in for a long wait when 12 jurors begin deliberating in the conspiracy and fraud case against him and former chief executive Jeff Skilling.
He’ll be back on trial, without a jury, on charges in a separate case stemming from his personal banking.
If he’s convicted, those charges alone could translate into a life sentence for the 64-year-old Lay. The counts, which include one for bank fraud and three for false statements, each carry a maximum sentence of 30 years.
In the case, expected to last two to three days, prosecutors allege Lay obtained $75 million in loans from three banks and then reneged on an agreement with the lenders that he wouldn’t use the money to carry or buy stock on margin. The indictment does not specify what stock was carried or bought on margin.
The banking case was originally part of the conspiracy indictment, but U.S. District Judge Sim Lake ruled in October 2004 that it would be tried separately.
The case’s Enron connection is that the $75 million in loans was collateralized by Lay’s company stock. Those lenders issued margin calls as Enron’s share price fell throughout 2001, which Lay said prompted him to tap the company for cash and repay the energy giant with Enron stock.
ARAPAHOE COUNTY
Data-storage maker buys Interlink Group
EMC Corp., the world’s biggest maker of data-storage computers and software, said Thursday it acquired Arapahoe County-based Interlink Group Inc., adding about 180 professionals who sell services to companies using Microsoft Corp. programs.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The deal won’t materially affect EMC’s profit and sales this year, the company said Thursday.
DENVER
Qwest, 32 metro cities advance TV pact
Qwest wants to expand its TV business following an agreement with 32 metro-area cities. The model franchise agreement provides a template for constructing a video network.
The agreement is controversial because it does not require the phone company to build out its TV-service network to every customer. However, each city can add requirements to the agreement before approving it.
Chuck Ward, Qwest’s Colorado president, declined to say when the Denver-based company might start offering more TV service or how much it plans to spend. Qwest covers 14 mostly Western states.
The Greater Metro Telecom Consortium is expected to formally approve the agreement Thursday.
DENVER
Longtime official to lead EEOC office
Nancy A. Sienko, a 27-year veteran of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, has been selected as director of the EEOC’s Denver office.
Sienko most recently served as enforcement manager of the EEOC office in Milwaukee, where she worked since beginning her career in 1979.
WASHINGTON
Gasoline costs crimp retail sales in April
In a sign that the economy may be slowing, retail sales were weaker than expected in April as soaring gasoline prices forced consumers to cut back on spending in other areas.
Retail sales rose by 0.5 percent last month following a 0.6 percent advance in March, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
The April increase was weaker than the 0.8 percent Wall Street had been expecting.
WASHINGTON
Bids top $4 million for in-flight Net access
Verizon Communications Inc., JetBlue Airways Corp. and a company linked to Louisville-based AirCell Inc. are among eight companies that bid for a second day Thursday in a U.S. government auction of airwaves to provide in-flight Internet access on commercial airplanes.
JetBlue’s LiveTV LLC offered $1.9 million for one spectrum license being auctioned by the Federal Communications Commission, and Verizon Airfone Inc. bid $4.3 million for another.
Unison Spectrum LLC, a closely held company based in Oak Hill, Va., outbid Verizon in Thursday’s final round, offering more than $4.5 million for the same license. AC BidCo LLC, a company linked to AirCell, bid $4.33 million in the round.
The auction is expected to continue today.
MINNEAPOLIS
UnitedHealth admits options “deficiency”
UnitedHealth Group Inc. admitted a “significant deficiency” in its handling of stock options Thursday and said it may have to restate several years of earnings.
It was a stunning turnaround for the nation’s second-largest health insurer, which had maintained that it handled options granted to chairman and chief executive William McGuire and other executives appropriately. The UnitedHealth filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission said the SEC is conducting an “informal inquiry” of the company’s options practices.
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas
Wind farm proposed for Gulf of Mexico
Texas officials announced plans Thursday for the nation’s largest offshore wind farm, consisting of as many as 170 windmills out in the Gulf of Mexico.
Houston-based Superior Renewable Energy will build and operate the project, which will cost $1 billion to $2 billion. Its 400-foot turbines would generate a total of 500 megawatts of electricity, or enough energy for 125,000 homes.
NEW YORK
Copper prices surpass record $4 a pound
Copper soared above $4 a pound for the first time, leading a rally in metals on signs that record prices haven’t curbed demand.
Stockpiles monitored by the London Metal Exchange fell the most in five weeks, as makers of wire and pipe tapped inventory to make up for a shortfall from mines.
Strikes and declining ore grades in Mexico and Indonesia have cut copper output this year.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.
Google CEO planning “lots more” products
Innovation at Google Inc., the world’s most-used Internet search engine, is accelerating and the company plans more partnerships to improve its products, chief executive Eric Schmidt said Thursday.
“The rate of innovation is accelerating, not decelerating,” Schmidt, 51, said at Google’s annual shareholder meeting. “We have lots more stuff coming.”
