Testimony in Lay-Skilling Trial Is Expected to End Next Week

The fraud and conspiracy trial of Enron Corp. founder Kenneth L. Lay and former Chief Executive Jeffrey K. Skilling is winding down, with one more week of testimony on the horizon.

The defense teams aim to rest their case Monday or Tuesday, followed by what prosecutors said would be as many as 10 rebuttal witnesses. Then jurors are to begin deliberations May 17 after hearing closing arguments.

Jurors who haven’t missed a day in the marathon trial that began when the panel was chosen Jan. 30 uttered a long, collective “aw” in sarcastic disappointment when U.S. District Judge Sim Lake told them Thursday that scheduling problems prevented other witnesses from testifying.

“I am confident that we will conclude next Thursday,” he told the panel regarding the testimony phase and then released jurors early.

Richard A. Causey, Enron’s former chief accounting officer who was bound for trial alongside Lay and Skilling until he broke ranks and pleaded guilty to securities fraud three days after Christmas, will testify for neither the government nor the defense, lawyers on both sides said.

Causey is slated to be sentenced in August.

Lake denied Thursday a request from Lay’s legal team to delay starting the former chairman’s bank fraud bench trial until May 22 -- the week after deliberations in the conspiracy case are expected to begin.

In testimony Thursday, an economics expert testified that Lay’s nearly exclusive reliance on Enron in his stock portfolio reflected his confidence in the company he founded.

“He had an extreme lack of diversity,” said Christopher Barry, chairman of the finance department at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, describing Lay’s portfolio, which by early 2001 was 90% Enron stock.

Prosecutor Robb Adkins suggested that Barry’s information came only from documents provided by Lay’s defense team and that the professor also should have consulted Enron’s “former employee victims” who relied on Lay’s guidance and information. At an employee meeting in late October 2001, Lay insisted the company was strong. Two months later, it filed for bankruptcy protection.

Barry bristled at the “employee victims” characterization.

Skilling faces 28 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors, while Lay faces six counts of fraud and conspiracy.