Business

Ex-Enron CEO may get a prison ‘break’

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Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling — who was sentenced to 24 years in prison for masterminding a massive fraud that led to the energy giant’s collapse — could get sprung from the slammer a lot sooner.

The Department of Justice acknow­ledged that it may release Skilling before the end of his prison term for securities fraud, conspiracy and insider trading.

A notice yesterday on the DOJ website said it was “considering entering into a sentencing agreement with the defendant in this manner.” It did not say what the new sentence would be.

The government is required by law to give Enron’s victims a chance to weigh in on a reduced sentence.

Skilling, 59, is currently locked up in a minimum security facility near Denver.

Enron filed for bankruptcy in December 2001, costing investors billions of dollars and thousands of workers their jobs.

Skilling and former Chairman Ken Lay, who died shortly after his conviction, were accused of using accounting tricks to cover up the fact that the company was a house of cards.

The case led to a crackdown on corporate crime, including new laws that made corporate executives more accountable.

Skilling has been fighting to overturn his 2006 conviction, claiming that prosecutors used an invalid legal theory, among other reasons.

While an appeals court upheld his conviction in 2009, it ruled that Skilling should be re-sentenced, saying the court erred in applying the sentencing guideline. The re-sentencing had been put on hold while Skilling’s move for a new trial was hashed over.

Skilling’s team reportedly recently asked for a new trial citing “newly discovered evidence.”