Who's the big winner here today? Kenny's the big winner, that's who! George W. Bush may want to turn away, but Kurt Eichenwald is standing by his man. Ken Lay finally had to do the perp walk today, but in Eichenwald's telling, the scene is all about giving Kenny Boy the chance to have his close-up. Here are the lead grafs of the Times' report (a later version of the story that appeared, pre-announcement, in the print edition. The Times's RSS feed, incidentally, reports six separate versions of this story at various points in the day, with two different co-authors credited beside Eichenwald at different points). Look at how dramatically the Lay figure is lit, and look how long it takes Eichenwald to come up with a (rather grudging) mention of the substance of the indictment that brought Lay onstage in the first place:

Just hours after he was led to a federal courthouse with his hands cuffed behind his back, Kenneth L. Lay, the former chairman and chief executive of Enron, said he was not guilty of any crimes.

Mr. Lay turned himself in to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Houston this morning after being charged with 11 counts related to the fraud that led to the collapse in 2001 of the onetime energy giant. After his indictment was unsealed, Mr. Lay was released on a bond of $500,000 set by U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Milloy.

This afternoon, Mr. Lay took to the lectern to talk publicly about the charges against him and acknowledged he played a role in Enron's downfall.

"I continue to grieve as does my family over the loss of the company, my failure to be able to save it,` Mr. Lay said. `But failure does not equate to a crime."

Mr. Lay stood before a phalanx of television cameras and reporters and said, "Although my lawyer and I do not believe that I should have been indicted, we want a speedy trial."

Looking and sounding confident but with his face glistening with perspiration, Mr. Lay made a statement, and then told the gathered reporters that he would answer any of their questions.

The indictment by a federal grand jury in Houston includes charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and making false statements to banks.

Kurt Eichenwald and Maria Newman, "Ex-Chairman of Enron Pleads Not Guilty to 11-Charge Indictment"

Contrast this with the economy of statement in the first grafs of the Washington Post's article—not to mention the focus on what the charges actually are, and what Lay's supposed to have done to justify them:

Former Enron Corp. chief executive Kenneth L. Lay pleaded not guilty today after being charged with 11 counts of securities fraud, wire fraud, and false and misleading statements in a 65 page indictment unsealed this morning. ...

Prosecutors accused Lay of taking over the helm of a massive conspiracy to hide Enron's rapidly deteriorating finances after August 2001. He served as the "principal spokesman" to investors, employees, and credit rating agencies -- and lied to all of them about the health of Enron's balance sheet, the indictment said.

For instance, in September 2001, Lay told employees in an Internet forum that the stock was an "incredible bargain." But prosecutors say that in the months prior Lay had bought $4 million in Enron shares while selling $24 million.

Lay reaped profits of $217 million through sales of Enron stock between 1998 and 2001, the indictment said. Over that period, he also collected $19 million in salary and bonuses. The government is seeking to seize Lay's 33rd floor penthouse apartment in the Huntingdon, a luxury complex near downtown Houston.

Also today, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil charges against Lay and said it was hoping to recover more than $90 million in what it called illegal proceeds from stock sales.

Carrie Johnson, "Former Enron CEO Lay Surrenders in Houston "

Those numbers Johnson offers, which seem crucial to establishing a sense of scale, are nowhere to be found in the Times story. Eichenwald is happy, though, to repeat the sad fact that Lay was "once worth some $400 million" and is now down "below $20 million, [with] available cash not earmarked for legal fees or repayment of debt" of not even a measly one million.

Eichenwald was similarly impressed by those figures in the "exclusive" blow-job interview he typed up on Lay's behalf for the front page of the Times the Sunday before last—an interview Eichenwald can't resist mentioning, apparently as a point of pride, in today's article. I suggested at the time that Eichenwald's treatment of Lay might have had something to do with his interest in setting up what he obviously regarded (and regards) as a plum interview—and with the inevitable media-management compromises necessary to bring it off. Kenny Boy may not have much money left, but lining up Eichenwald to be his NY Times quasi-publicist certainly seems to be paying dividends.

posted by michael  5:36:05 PM  
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