Jeffrey Skilling, the convicted former Enron Corp. chief executive, could be freed from prison a decade earlier than originally expected over his role in bringing down the energy trader, in one of the biggest corporate frauds in U.S. history, Reuters reported yesterday. According to court papers filed on Wednesday, federal prosecutors and Skilling have agreed that he should be resentenced to between 14 and 17-1/2 years in prison, down from his original 24-year sentence. In exchange, Skilling agreed to end his appeals of his May 2006 conviction by a Houston federal jury on 19 counts of securities fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors. Skilling has long maintained his innocence. U.S. District Judge Sim Lake in Houston is scheduled to resentence Skilling on June 21. Skilling has been in prison since December 2006, and with good behavior could be released in 2018 if Lake resentences him as requested.
