Kenneth Lee Lay. (Source: McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin)

Lay, Kenneth Lee

Published: August 21, 2008, 4:09 pm

Updated: December 20, 2010, 10:31 am

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Kenneth Lee Lay (1942-2006), an American businessman and former CEO of Enron Corporation, a powerful energy trading and communications firm that suffered America's most notorious corporate collapse. Lay was the CEO and Chairman of Enron from 1986 until his resignation in January 23, 2002, with the exception of a few months in 2001 when he acted as Chairman and Jeffrey Skilling was CEO. Lay sold large amounts of his Enron stock in September and October of 2001 as its price fell, while encouraging employees to buy more stock, telling them the company would rebound. Lay liquidated more than US$300 million in Enron stock from 1989 to 2001, mostly in stock options. Lay was arrested in July 2004 for his role in Enron's collapse, charged with 11 counts of securities fraud, wire fraud, and making false and misleading statements.