The former CEO of Enron's flailing broadband unit was sentenced today to two years and three months in federal prison for lying about the division's capabilities to Wall Street so analyst buzz would inflate the company's stock price.
Kenneth Rice, once a top Enron trader, also will pay a $50,000 fine and turn over more than $13 million in cash and property to the government as agreed when he pleaded guilty to securities fraud in 2004. The property includes a Ferrari, a Colorado vacation home and a platinum, diamond and sapphire necklace and bracelet set he bought for his now ex-wife during his heyday at Enron.
Isn't it interesting that women attached to prominent Republican figures (cf. Wolfowitz) rapidly become exes once the power, the money, or the glory runs out?
Why, you would think that GOP shills who enjoyed such extensive (and expensive!) Enron Mighty Man Training would be better able to keep their women satisfied, even without the platinum, diamond and sapphire necklaces and bracelets:
Mr. [Kenneth] Rice, along with the others, was charged with defrauding the investors while reaping millions of dollars in Enron stock sales. He is the person closest to Mr. Skilling to have been indicted in the continuing government investigation into the collapse of the onetime energy-sector highflier. Mr. Rice, who resigned from Enron before Mr. Skilling left in August 2001, worked with Mr. Skilling for more than a decade and was one of a handful of company officials who accompanied the chief executive on so-called mighty man adventure vacations to Mexico, South America and Australia.
How much more manly than an Enron genius can a man be?
