Facing Jail, Banker Leaps to Death
November 4th, 2007What is it about Colorado and big time swindlers who don’t seem to be able to live long enough to show up to court for sentencing?
Remember Kenny Boy:
Kenneth Lay, the founder of Enron Corp. who ascended to the pinnacle of American business only to tumble into disgrace, died of a heart attack on Wednesday. He was 64.
Lay, 64, faced the prospect of the rest of his life in prison after his conviction May 25 of fraud and conspiracy in one of the biggest debacles in American corporate history.
Dr. Robert Kurtzman, Mesa County Coroner, said his autopsy showed Lay died of heart disease while on vacation in Aspen, Colo
…
Along with fraud and conspiracy charges, Lay also was convicted in a separate federal trial of bank fraud and making false statements to banks. Those charges related to his personal finances.
Lay was scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 23, along with Skilling, who also faces a long prison term.
Nothing solid, of course. Just echoes and coincidences among the bones, the entrails and the breathtaking financial crimes.
Via: Rocky Mountain News:
Former BestBank owner Edward Mattar, facing 14 years in prison and the forfeiture of millions of dollars at his fraud sentencing Friday, chose instead to leap from a 27th-story window.
The Denver coroner’s office identified Mattar’s body through fingerprints and ruled the death a suicide late Friday.
At 3:40 a.m, Mattar, 68, smashed a window with a hammer at his home at the Apartments at Denver Place, 1880 Arapahoe St. He then jumped, landing in the courtyard in front of the building.
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The banker’s 2 p.m. hearing in U.S. District Court in Denver was canceled, and prosecutors eventually will dismiss the charges.
“Suicide is a terrible thing, whenever it happens,” Assistant U.S. Attorney John Haried said. “That’s all you can say about it.”
…
Harrison Greene worked for Mattar at Central New England College for more than three years as director of admissions and then dean of institutional relations. He then worked at Mattar’s for-profit Nasson College.
“He was one of those guys, 20 percent of the things he taught me were lifelong business lessons I’ve continued to use,” Greene said Friday. “The other 80 percent, I wish I’d never heard.”
Greene said Mattar “managed people through intimidation,” once giving him an illustration of a dying apple tree with just one piece of fruit left. The caption was “the tree with the best apples gets the worst beating.” [This is an axiom that all stock and commodity operators are very familiar with. Gold bugs; take note— Kevin]
He expressed surprise Friday that Mattar killed himself.
“He had a tremendous fear of death.”
He expressed surprise Friday that Mattar killed himself.
“He had a tremendous fear of death.â€
Perhaps he had more to fear than just incarceration in a government facility.
Ken Lay is not dead. He just found it CONVEENIENT to find several willing co-conspirators in Colorado. Right. Ken Lay dies on top of that pile of cash. We can only dream of a death so proud!
My younger years were spent hearing what my parents told me of the Great Depression. I always imagined that with the rich having the most to lose, they would be the ones killing themselves during a crash.
This could take days of research to prove – but just looking at this http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/connections_n2/great_depression.html
tells me no, the rich didn’t kill themselves, the rest of “them” did.
Some night when not so late I’ll research the rich, and the exodus from New York to Charlottesville, VA.
The man who committed suicide in this article? Somehow “miraculously” becomes a Jumper? And Uh, if they could only get his identity from fingerprints, geez, I wonder what happened to his dental records? Seriously folks, I may have my head back in the 70’s but I think THERE are only OFFICE buildings in Colorado that are high rises. Seriously, this story sucks wind.
Fingerprints darlings, are the easiest to fix.