US jury reaches verdict in Enron trial

HOUSTON: The jury in the fraud and conspiracy trial of former Enron chief executives Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling has reached a verdict, a US Department of Justice spokeswoman said on Thursday.

The 12-member panel is expected to return to the courtroom at 11 am (1600 GMT) to read the verdict, spokeswoman Samantha Martin said.

Lay, 64, and Skilling, 52, were charged with hiding the weak financial condition of the energy company that collapsed into bankruptcy amid a wave of accounting scandals in December 2001.

The eight women and four men reached their decision one day after making their first request for additional materials from US District Judge Sim Lake, sending him a note that they needed trial transcripts and a list of exhibits.

Lake told attorneys in the case that he would provide the transcripts once he found out exactly which of the more than 50 witnesses the panel wanted to study.

The attorneys have been waiting for a verdict along with a room full of reporters who have covered every day of the four-month case stemming from the spectacular collapse of Enron in 2001.

On Wednesday, another US judge in Houston approved a $6.6 billion civil settlement by three banks accused by Enron shareholders of helping the company hide financial misdeeds that led to its collapse.

The settlements to be paid to former Enron shareholders include $2.4 billion from Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, $2.2 billion from JP Morgan Chase and $2 billion from Citigroup.

Including earlier settlements with firms such as Lehman Brothers and Bank of America, shareholders are now due to receive more than $7.2 billion of the $40 billion plaintiffs in the cases have claimed they lost in Enron's collapse.

Enron's share price dropped from a peak of near $90 in August 2000 to zero with Enron's bankruptcy in late 2001.