by Joe Protester
Thursday, Jul. 06, 2006 at 1:12 PM
Houston - The sudden, unexpected death of Enron Corp. CEO Kenneth Lay on the eve of his court sentencing has prompted widespread speculation that the convicted multimillionaire is in fact, not actually dead.
Houston - The sudden, unexpected death of Enron Corp. CEO Kenneth Lay on the eve of his court sentencing has prompted widespread speculation that the convicted multimillionaire is in fact, not actually dead. Some internet bloggers’ have gone as far as suggesting that the fatal ‘massive heart attack’ was nothing more than an elaborate hoax by Lay designed to avoid spending his remaining years in prison.
Wrote one blogger: “Within days, Ken Lay will be on a private beach somewhere sipping mai-tais tea with Ferdinand Marcos, who now goes by the name Rico. And it doesn’t end there. If Saddam Hussein keeps his mouth shut during his trial about US and European involvement in his regime’s worst atrocities, then once he is ‘executed’, he’ll be getting a Thai massage in the hut right next door to them.”
Sargeant Frank Duvalier, a private ‘identity retrofit’ consultant located in Washington DC, believes that such rumors are commonplace, and not to be taken seriously. “ It’s a common misconception that rich criminals like dictators and drug dealers go and live under assumed names in remote places with really nice beaches,” said Duvalier, who was previously employed by the US Witness Protection Program. “To erase all of your tracks in life, not just your financial records but also undergo surgery, change your fingerprints, that’s a pretty extensive operation. Believe me, I know. It would cost tens of millions of dollars to pull off, so no, I would say it’s just a popular misconception.”
Meanwhile, plaintiffs in the Enron Case are still seeking the return of some $ 12 Billion that is still unaccounted for in the Enron scandal.
Enron Corp. Spokesmen were quick to put a stop to the rumors: “The allegations suggesting a cover up are not only absurd, they are in fact, deeply hurtful to the family, Ken Lay is definitely dead,” said Harlan Loeb, a spokesman for the Lay family, who is set to inherit the CEO’s remaining estate. “ The fact that Mr. Lay transferred a hundred million dollars to some poor anonymous fisherman who lives in the Cayman Islands just minutes before he was pronounced dead is purely incidental. Ken was funny like that. It was a random act of kindness. That’s all.”
The fisherman in question, named Leoman Kensworth, recently announced plans to built a multimillion dollar resort cottage on the Island. He was not available for comment.