Skilling bound for Minnesota prison

HOUSTON — Former Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey K. Skilling, convicted of fraud and conspiracy in the biggest corporate scandal in U.S. history, was ordered to report next month to a low-security federal prison in Minnesota.

Skilling received the harshest punishment of all Enron executives when he was sentenced on Oct. 23 to a term of 24 years and four months.

The former executive will be eligible to shave as many as 54 days a year off his sentence for good behavior in prison. Skilling also will undergo alcohol and mental-health counseling. Successful completion of that treatment would reduce his sentence a year.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake ordered Skilling to surrender to the federal prison in Waseca, Minn., on Dec. 12.

Skilling, 52, is currently confined to his home and wears an electronic-monitoring device. He plans to appeal his conviction.

Skilling is the highest-ranking executive to be punished for the accounting tricks and shady deals that led to the loss of thousands of jobs, more than $60 billion in Enron stock value and more than $2 billion in employee pension assets when the company imploded in 2001.

What’s left of Skilling’s wealth, about $60 million, will be liquidated, according to an agreement among lawyers for Enron employees, the company’s savings and stock ownership plans, prosecutors and Skilling’s legal team.

About $45 million will be put into a restitution fund for victims. The remainder will pay Skilling’s legal fees, said Lynn Sark, attorney for the Enron Corp. Savings Plan and Stock Ownership Plan. The Justice Department allowed Skilling to set aside $23 million for his defense when he was indicted. He still owed his lawyers $30 million as of Monday.