11 News Blog

Ken Lay's paycheck averaged $203,000 daily

During his final few hours on the witness stand Wednesday, Ken Lay told jurors he lived the high life from 1999 through 2001. The 64-year-old also said he gave millions to charity.

LAY: My total compensation [for that three year period] was about $223-million dollars.

Mind you, 80-percent of it, he said, was in Enron stock which became worthless.

Dividing that $223,000,000 over that three year period, it looks like Ken Lay pocketed roughly $203,000 a day.

Lay said he and his family gave $25-million away to charities during that 3-year-period.

And his living expenses? He said he and his family spent $22-million, which was 11% of his total income, to live.

But when Enron crashed, much of Lay's net worth evaporated, too.

The Enron founder testified he had to sell his pricey home in Aspen, CO where he had planned to spend a lot of retirement. He and Linda were forced to sell their three homes in Galveston as well.

What's left?

LAY: I've got a 1993 Mercedes.

SECREST: And Linda, your bride?

LAY: Linda has a Mercedes, too, I think it's a '99 or 2000 Mercedes. She deserves it. I think we have one car up in Aspen too. It's a [Jeep] Cherokee.

LAY: We live well!

LAY: I like to go out to fine restaurants [and] less than fine restaurants but eat well.

Enron trial is going into overtime

Just before breaking for lunch, Judge Sim Lake broke bad news for jurors in the Enron trial. It will last longer than they expected. That's tough considering the jurors have endured 47-days of listening to sometimes boring testimony.

At 11:30am, Judge Sim Lake asked Ken Lay to step down from the witness stand so he could address the jury.

LAKE: As I told you at the outset, one of my goals is to use your time efficiently. I'm chagrined we're running behind the schedule we gave you. I thought the evidence would conclude this week or certainly by the end of next week. So I'm thinking about method of accelerating our schedule.

Lake gave the 16-jurors something to chew on over lunch; letting them decide how they wanted to proceed.

Here are there options, he said:

1. They can start earlier. Most jurors, the judge said, arrive at the courthouse at 7:30am. The judge proposed starting at 8:00am from now on instead of 8:30am.

2. They can stay later in the day to listen to testimony longer.

3. Jurors can meet on Fridays. The judge had given them that day off so he can take care of other cases. Judge Lake suggested perhaps meeting for a half day instead of a full day on Fridays.

4. Finally, they can remain on the current schedule and just take longer to try the case.

The judge also said he is shortening the lunch break effective immediately. It was an hour and a half. Today, it's an hour and fifteen minutes. He said he would shorten it to just one hour, perhaps by tomorrow.

LAKE: My goal is to try to conclude the evidence by May 11 and then to argue the case the following Monday. But that goal can not be achieved with our current schedule. At the end of the day I want to know if you've reached any consensus.

We'll tell you what the schedule change is on 11News at 5 and 6.

Ken Lay gets tighter security day after heckler

Leaving court at the end of the day Tuesday, a teenager heckled what appeared to be an already frustrated Ken Lay. The kid walked up to the crowd of cameras surrounding Lay and started barking "TATER TOTS OR FRIES, MR. LAY? TATER TOTS OR FRIES?" He was apparently mocking reporters questioning Lay but it did not seem to amuse the former Enron chief. We're not sure what the kid meant by asking Lay that, probably just expressing his immaturity.

Regardless, walking in to court Wednesday morning, we noticed a substantial increase in the security surrounding Ken Lay. Normally, he gets an escort from just one Houston Police officer. Today there were three. And a U.S. Marshal. And two Courthouse Security officers. It's uncertain if the teenage heckler rattled Lay and led to more security. No one would say.

Lay seemed more upbeat this morning. He will likely need the energy. His attorney, Mac Secrest, is supposed to finish direct questioning of Lay sometime today. Then prosecutor John Hueston, 41, will begin cross-examination which is expected to last through Thursday perhaps into early next week. Hueston, a talented prosecutor, used to be a defense attorney working for O'Melveny & Myers, the same law firm representing Skilling.