Supreme Court to Hear Appeal of Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the “honest services” law was applied correctly when former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling was convicted for his role in the collapse of the energy company.

Skilling is serving a 24-year prison term for his 2006 conviction on fraud and conspiracy charges. The U.S. Supreme Court granted cert today, according to the Associated Press, Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) and SCOTUSblog.

The U.S. Supreme Court already has two other honest services cases on its docket, the New York Times reports.

Skilling has argued he did not intend to deprive Enron of honest services. Instead, Skilling claims he was acting in an effort to improve the company’s stock value. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had upheld the conviction but ordered a new sentencing hearing.

A second issue in the case, Skilling v. United States, is whether “searing media attacks” on Skilling tainted his conviction, according to SCOTUSblog.