Foiled again

Just when you thought justice had been served, Ken Lay finds a way to weasel his way out, yet again.

Indicted on multiple counts of fraud and various other white-collar crimes, Lay faced the prospect of the rest of his life in a federal pound-you-in-the-ass prison. Mr. Lay died of a heart attack July 5, 2006, before he was ever sentenced, and due to his death his guilt will technically cease to exist in history books.

There is little doubt in my mind that Lay deserved to have his remaining days be filled with misery and pain. He fleeced the country (specifically California) of hundreds of millions of dollars and swindled millions more from the very people who had spent their entire lives working for his company. Most of them are left with little to nothing, all thanks to Lay and his cohort Jeffrey Skilling.

I was in Berlin at the time of Lay’s *ahem untimely death, and was caught a bit off-guard when I heard Larry King ask George W. Bush about Lay’s death in an interview. I had predicted after the guilty verdict that Lay would take his own life (a man with such little integrity as himself would hardly have the character to do the time he deserved and it would no doubt be the easy way out), but it came as a bit of a surprise nonetheless.

When I read the cause of death – heart attack due to coronary disease – I almost chuckled. Are you serious? A heart attack?

I just can’t believe that this was anything but a suicide or a faked death. There is no doubt in my mind that this prick wanted to die, rather than spending any time in jail, but a suicide would void his life insurance policy.

Of course, this conspiracy theory will never be investigated. It’s not worth anyone’s time and the prick is dead, so popular opinion will let a sleeping dog lie.

But I feel it should be. Not that I want his wife to be deprived of Lay’s fortune, but because this is one more way in which Ken Lay has managed to slip out of what he had coming to him.

If hell exists, Mr. Lay is surely there, roasting marshmallows with Ronald Reagan. I only hope that his life in the afterworld is filled with misery, pain, and torture. He deserves no less.