EthicsBite™

The news keeps pouring in so fast I can barely keep up.

Remember Jeff Skilling, former CEO of Enron? Skilling was sent to the federal pen for 24 years. He appealed his initial sentence, but was rebuffed. He later took a second appeal forward on the basis that certain rulings in a subsequent, unrelated case affected the proceedings in his own. That appeal was also turned away, but did win Skilling a chance for re-sentencing by a federal judge in Houston. Not fully satisfied, Skilling further appealed to the Supreme Court. This week the Supreme Court announced it has decided not to hear the case, but is sending the sentencing back to the federal judge in Houston. We will follow how that progresses and whether or not Mr. Skilling will have to serve his full term.

As first reported in our Twitter account (@ethicsbite), Reuters revealed that the CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corp. may have taken out up to $1.1 Billion in loans against his personal interest in certain Chesapeake oil wells. Previously unreported, the loans could pose a conflict of interest problem.

Back in England, the News of the World phone hacking scandal took a new twist that may bring some of the litigation to our own soil. Some individuals may believe their cell phones were hacked while they were in the United States. If so, the opportunity may be open to bring their cases to the U.S. judicial system where parent company News Corp. is headquartered. Could be the best British soap opera since Downton Abbey.