Former Enron Corp. Chief executive Officer Jeffrey Skilling is set to appear in court to learn how much longer he’ll stay in prison for spearheading the fraud that destroyed the world’s largest energy trader, Bloomberg News reported today. Under terms of a deal with prosecutors, Skilling could see his 24-year prison sentence cut by as much as 10 years, freeing him as early as 2017, if a U.S. judge approves it at a hearing today in federal court in Houston. In exchange for a shorter sentence, Skilling agreed to forfeit $45 million, drop his bid for a new trial and end litigation over his 2006 conviction and sentence. The former CEO’s prison term was already set to be reduced by nine years, thanks to a 2011 appellate-court ruling that sentencing guidelines were incorrectly applied in his case.
