Enron Task Force
ORG
Enron Task Force Enron
Kenneth D. Rice, who headed Enron's broadband unit, testified that former chief executive Jeffrey K. Skilling directed him to paint a positive outlook for the company's board. Mr. Rice's shaky memory over the claimed meeting underscores a central challenge facing the government in proving its case that Mr. Skilling and Mr. Lay conspired to defraud Enron and then lied about it to the investing public before the company's 2001 collapse. The alleged meeting took on a mysterious tone Thursday afternoon when prosecutor Sean M. Berkowitz, the director of the government's Enron Task Force, produced the document for the defense team. Mr. Skilling, former chief executive of Enron, knew that the broadband division was struggling to survive, yet he directed Mr. Rice to paint a positive outlook for the company's board. Mr. Rice's shaky memory over the claimed meeting underscores a central challenge facing the government in proving its case that Mr. Skilling and Mr. Lay conspired to defraud Enron and then lied about it to the investing public. The alleged meeting took on a mysterious tone Thursday afternoon when prosecutor Sean M. Berkowitz, the director of the government's Enron Task Force, produced the document for the defense team, but later, when asked by Judge Simeon T. Lake III if the document was in the government's computer system, said that he didn't know, Mr. Holscher then asked Mr. Rice why the draft presentation was dated May 9, eight days after the board meeting.