I haven't read about the trials but if what I've heard is true, some of them have already been released. In China they would have been lined up in front of a wall and shot.
shareKen Lay died in prison, a year after the documentary was made.
Skilling is still in prison. His earliest possible release date is in 2019, assuming he meets the standards of good behavior etc.
Actually, Lay died in Colorado, months before his sentencing. Bush 39 attended his funeral; he was buried in a secret mountain location. Because of his connections and the (so-called) furtive nature of his cremation and interment, there have been rumors of his being alive and well somewhere outside the US; usually named is South America. There are a few "Find Kenny Boy" sites out there.
shareBecause Ken Lay died before sentencing they were trying to say he wasn't convicted yet and kiss any efforts to claw any money back.
Big time white collar criminals get their well placed friends to give character references to the judges influencing them to give probated or reduced sentences. I think some judges are only looking for an excuse to give reduced sentences and they can always cite the references as an excuse.
One hand washes the other.
I don't know everything. Neither does anyone else
If you read Gladwell's New Yorker piece, you'd think none of them belonged in jail. According to Gladwell, the public was guilty of not being clued in on slick accounting practices; the Enron guys were just ahead of the loophole curve.
Not that I agree with Gladwell.... To me, Andy Fastow is the most evil of the evil half-geniuses who ran Enron. I wish Fastow has been sentenced to park cars at Wal-Mart for the rest of his life. But hey, that's America: Rich, good ol' boys make the rules, and when they break the rules, the only losers are the work-a-day investors.