Telegraph | News | Enron chief executives found guilty

Telegraph | News | Enron chief executives found guilty: "In a separate trial, Lay was found guilty of four out of four bank fraud charges after he illegally used $75m in personal loans to buy shares.

Skilling, 52, was found guilty of 19 out of 28 counts of fraud and conspiracy - charges which carry a combined maximum penalty of 185 years in jail.

'Obviously, I'm disappointed,' he said outside the courthouse. 'But that's the way the system works.'

His lawyer, Dan Petrocelli, said the verdict 'doesn't change our view of what happened at Enron ... or Jeffrey Skilling's innocence.'

Enron was once America's seventh largest company. In 2001 it collapsed amid revelations that it had used secret deals to hide debt and inflate profits.

Today's verdict put the blame for the collapse of the company squarely on the shoulders of its top two executives."