Skilling Guilty….of preparing for the trial – Sean Berkowitz on the run – Enron Update

The two Harvard grads went toe-to-toe, with Skilling winning this round. First Berkowitz couldn't get his A/V exhibits to work and to keep the momentum had to plow through without his visual aids. According to the WSJ law blog this, "seemed to visibly frustrate Berkowitz, possibly throwing him off his game." Off his game is a good explanation for the Berkowitz follies later in the day.

The fact remains that there is no smoking gun evidence from emails or documents that points to Skilling. The prosecution has relied on tainted witnesses to make their case so far. The prosecution's cover for this seems to imply that Skilling has something to hide since there are no documents which implicate him. In other words, Skilling has something to hide because Seanie can't find any evidence against him. That seems a bit tenuous.

Apparently still reeling from the A/V disaster Berkowitz let the jury know the bombshell that Skilling had prepared for the trial by hiring a consultant. Even SHOWING A WEBPAGE THAT'S CONCLUSIVLEY PROVES SKILLING WORKED WITH A TRIAL CONSULTING FIRM! I'm not sure if it was as significant to the jury but it should have been. Working to prove innocence should not be a sign of guilt.

With no real evidence Seanie's main tactic seems to try to "crack" Skilling. The former McKinsey director so far has been too smart to take the bait which isn't stopping Berkowitz from trying.

Showing much less dignity than the average Harvard grad, Seanie is relying on word games and extreme, almost satirical, indignity to make his case. Here are a few of the more amusing gems taken from http://blogs.chron.com/enrontrialwatch/ If you are following the trail you need that link:

Berkowitz continued this tack, giving Skilling little time to answer questions. Finally, Skilling tried to elaborate on the timing of when a study was done on the company's international assets.

Berkowitz wouldn't allow it.

"I don't want to hear speeches, OK?" Berkowitz said sharply.

"I was just.."

"Do you understand?"

"I will try to answer your questions."

Berkowitz continued to question whether Skilling was up front with analysts.

"I think the market knew the nature of our balance sheet," Skilling said, adding that Enron was open about the health of the assets.

"But you didn't tell them what they would sell for, did you?" Berkowitz interrupted.

This followed Skilling's joke about the energy crisis CA brought on itself.:

"You think that's funny?!" Berkowitz said sternly. "You think that was funny?!"

Skilling's smirk disappeared and he tried to explain that the "regulatory environment in California was just like Brazil..."

Berkowitz interrupted.

"You made jokes about (the energy crisis in California)," said Berkowitz pointedly.

Uhh, no Seanie it wasn't that funny, at least not compared with your joke of a cross-examination. I'm still long Skilling and short Lay on Tradesports, so lets hope Sean gets his act together. The contracts have not moved a tic all day.