Academic

Enron at the Supreme Court -- Double Jeopardy Time!

By Gordon Smith, Christine, Hurt, Vic Fleischer, Fred Tung, Lisa Fairfax, David Zaring

We finally have an Enron-related case (besides the too-late Arthur Andersen case) at the Supreme Court!  Woo-hoo, corporate law professors everywhere.  Except that it's on criminal procedure grounds.  Rats.

A few months ago I blogged in passing that one of the "Enron Broadband" defendants had pled guilty, even while his co-defendants were appealing to the Supreme Court of the United States that being retried after being acquitted on some counts and receiving hung verdicts on other counts that seemed to require the other counts violated their rights against double jeopardy.  Well, yesterday, the Court heard oral arguments in that case.  According to the Houston Chronicle, "Supreme Court justices today appeared skeptical of government arguments that prosecutors haven?t had a fair shot at convicting Enron strategist Scott Yeager of money laundering and insider trading."  Hmmm.

For those of you more interested in the legal issues presented by the case, this SCOTUSWiki rounds up all pertinent documents, including a transcript from the hearing.  Also included is this amicus brief by several prominent criminal law professors, including my colleagues Margareth Etienne and Andy Leipold.

Full post as published by Conglomerate on March 24, 2009 (boomark / email).