IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
FILED
January 6, 2009
No. 06-20885 Charles R. Fulbruge III
Clerk
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Plaintiff-Appellee
v.
JEFFREY K SKILLING
Defendant-Appellant
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Texas
Before SMITH and PRADO, Circuit Judges, and LUDLUM*, District Judge.
PRADO, Circuit Judge:
A jury convicted former Enron Corporation CEO Jeffrey K. Skilling
(“Skilling”) for conspiracy, securities fraud, making false representations to
auditors, and insider trading. Skilling argues that the government prosecuted
him using an invalid legal theory, that the district court used erroneous jury
instructions, that the jury was biased, that prosecutors engaged in
unconstitutional misconduct, and that his sentence is improper. We affirm the
convictions, vacate the sentence, and remand for resentencing.
I. Factual Background
*
District Judge of the Western District of Texas, sitting by designation.
No. 06-20885
Skilling’s rise at Enron began when he founded Enron’s Wholesale
business in 1990. In 1997, he became Enron’s President and Chief Operating
Officer and joined the Board of Directors. In February 2001, he became Enron’s
CEO, and on August 14, 2001, Skilling resigned from Enron.
About four months after Skilling’s departure, Enron crashed into sudden
bankruptcy. An initial investigation uncovered an elaborate conspiracy to
deceive investors about the state of Enron’s fiscal health. That conspiracy
allegedly included overstating the company’s financial situation for more than
two years in an attempt to ensure that Enron’s short-run stock price remained
artificially high. With Congress looking on, the President appointed a team of
investigators, the Enron Task Force. The investigation led to criminal charges
against Skilling and many others.
According to the government, the conspiracy, led by Skilling and Ken Lay
(“Lay”), Enron’s CEO until Skilling took over (and again after his abrupt exit),
worked to manipulate Enron’s earnings to satisfy Wall Street’s expectations.
Other top Enron officials were key players in the unlawful scheme, including
Richard Causey (“Causey”), the Chief Accounting Officer (“CAO”); Andrew
Fastow (“Fastow”), the Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”); and Ben Glisan
(“Glisan”), the Treasurer.
A. Conspiracy and Securities Fraud
Several of Skilling’s convictions stem from allegations of conspiracy and
securities fraud. The government presented evidence that Skilling engaged in
fraud in several of Enron’s business endeavors. As an international, multi-
billion dollar enterprise, Enron had elaborate financial dealings. At the time of
its bankruptcy, the company was comprised of four major businesses:
Wholesale, which bought and sold energy; Transportation and Distribution,
which owned energy networks; Retail, or Enron Energy Services (“EES”), which
sold energy to end-users; and Broadband, or Enron Broadband Services (“EBS”),
2
No. 06-20885
which bought and sold bandwidth capacity. The government alleged that
Skilling took specific fraudulent actions with respect to Wholesale, EES, and
EBS.
Wholesale, the most profitable division, accounted for nearly 90% of
Enron’s revenue. The government presented evidence to show that the
conspirators lied about the nature of Wholesale, calling it a “logistics company,”
even though it was a much more economically volatile “trading company.”
Construing Wholesale as a “logistics company” had important ramifications for
how investors valued the division. In fact, Skilling reportedly told Ken Rice
(“Rice”), EBS’s CEO, that if investors perceived Enron as a trading company, its
stock would “get whacked.” The alleged artifice also included masking the losses
of Enron’s other struggling subdivisions by shifting the losses to Wholesale.
That made the struggling divisions appear financially sound and thus
encouraged additional investment.
EES was a retail undertaking that Enron created to sell natural gas to
customers in deregulated markets. Although Enron had high expectations for
EES’s profitability after its initial start-up period, EES did not meet these
expectations. As of the fall of 2000, various utilities in California owed Enron
substantial fees, which Enron had already booked as profits under its
“mark-to-market accounting.”1 The utilities, however, were suffering heavy
financial losses and stopped paying these fees. Under general accounting rules,
Enron should have recorded a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars based on the
failure of the utilities to pay the fees, but Skilling and his co-conspirators tried
to hide the harm by transferring the losses to Wholesale so that EES would
continue to show promise, at least on paper.
1
This means that Enron immediately recognized income, discounted to present value,
based on projected future earnings.
3
No. 06-20885
The government claims that Skilling hid EES’s other problems as well.
For example, in early 2001, EES employees allegedly realized that Enron was
not properly valuing EES’s contracts and that, again because of Enron’s use of
mark-to-market accounting, Enron would need to record a loss of many millions
of dollars. Skilling allegedly told David Delainey, who was in charge of EES, to
“bleed the contract issues over time” instead of recognizing the loss all at once.
Skilling again concealed EES’s losses within Wholesale in late March
2001, after the California Public Utilities Commission decided to add a
surcharge to electricity. Enron lost hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of
this surcharge because, under its contracts, it could not pass the extra fees on
to its customers. After Skilling was consulted and signed off, Enron shifted the
EES losses to Wholesale by transfering EES’s risk-management books to
Wholesale. Business at EES did not improve, and by August 2001, when
Skilling left Enron, EES had lost over $700 million in that year alone. Enron
failed to account for these losses properly, making EES appear to be in better
financial shape than it really was.
EBS was Enron’s attempt to enter the telecommunications industry.
Enron invested more than $1 billion in EBS, but lost money every quarter as
EBS struggled to meet earnings targets. The government claims that in 2000,
EBS managed to reach its earnings targets, but only by means of transactions
afield from its core business (such as selling and monetizing corporate assets).
Skilling allegedly hid from investors EBS’s failure to meet earnings targets
through core business activities.2
2
The government claims that, in addition to being hidden, these non-core earnings were
suspect in other ways. Many of them came from the sale of a portion of Enron’s fiber optic net-
work, commonly referred to as “dark fiber,” to LJM2, a pseudo-third party that Fastow
controlled. Allegedly, EBS also improperly hedged its investment in Avici, an internet com-
pany, in a Raptor Special Purpose Entity (“Raptor”). As discussed below, the Raptors arguably
were instruments of fraud.
4
No. 06-20885
The government claims that Skilling knew EBS was struggling, at least
based on its record of performance, but that he wanted to announce to the
investing public that EBS was doing well and would do even better in 2001.
Although EBS’s executives said it was impossible, Skilling set EBS’s earnings
targets for 2001 to be a loss of only $65 million. EBS’s personnel initially
thought a loss estimate of nearly $500 million was more realistic, and, even with
the best circumstances, they projected losses of at least $110 million. Rice,
EBS’s CEO, warned Skilling that the earnings targets for EBS were wrong, but
Skilling apparently would not change them. Skilling told Rice that certain
international assets were not producing sufficiently and that “we really need to
hang in there for a year or two until EES and EBS could pick up the slack,”
because Enron “didn’t need any more bad news.”
In 2001, EBS was projected to lose $35 million in the first quarter, but
Rice quickly realized that losses would actually be around $150 million. Skilling
allegedly found out but would not budge on earnings targets, instead authorizing
EBS to fire employees and engage in more non-core business to boost revenues.
It worked for the first quarter, although Rice likened the monetizations to “one
more hit of crack cocaine on these earnings.” EBS faired a little better in the
second quarter of 2001, reporting losses of approximately $100 million. Given
that EBS continued to lose money, however, Enron decided to merge EBS into
Wholesale. Ultimately, Enron lost the entire $1 billion that it had initially
invested in EBS.
B. False Representations About Enron’s Finances
Many of the allegations of fraud also stem from Skilling’s representations
to investors about the financial standing of Wholesale, EES, and EBS. Skilling,
as a high ranking corporate officer, held conference calls with investors to
update them on the company’s progress. The government claims that Skilling
misled investors during these calls. For example, on January 22, 2001, Enron
5
No. 06-20885
released its earnings report for the previous quarter, and Skilling told investors
that “the situation in California [regarding the utilities] had little impact on
fourth quarter results. Let me repeat that. For Enron, the situation in
California had little impact on fourth quarter results.” Skilling also stated that
“nothing can happen in California that would jeopardize” earnings targets.
However, when he made these statements, Skilling allegedly knew that
the California utilities likely could not pay the fees that Enron was expecting
and that Enron might have to write off a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars.
He also listened silently as Mark Koenig (“Koenig”), Enron’s Director of Investor
Relations, assured investors that non-core business revenues were a “fairly
small” amount of EBS’s earnings, which the government alleges was not actually
the case.3
Three days later, Skilling spoke at Enron’s annual analysts conference,
claiming that EES and EBS, like Enron’s other major businesses, had
“sustainable high earnings power.” Skilling argues that this statement was
merely harmless puffery. At the conference, he also reasserted that Wholesale
was “not a trading business. We are a logistics company.”
On March 23, 2001, Enron held a special conference call with analysts.
Enron’s stock price had been declining, and investors began surmising that EBS
was having financial difficulties. Skilling comforted investors, saying that EBS
was “having a great quarter” and that Enron was “highly confident” that EES
would meet its earning target. According to the government, however, Skilling
knew both divisions were in extreme financial turmoil.
On April 17, 2001, Skilling hosted another conference call in which he
explained the transfer of EES’s risk-management books to Wholesale by saying
that there was “such capacity in our wholesale business that were—we just
3
Koenig pleaded guilty to securities fraud for this statement, among others.
6
No. 06-20885
weren’t taking advantage of that in managing our portfolio at the retail side.
And this retail portfolio has gotten so big so fast that we needed to get the
best—the best hands working on risk management there.” In fact, the
government claims that Skilling used the transfer to hide losses. Skilling also
said that the “first quarter results were great” at EES, even though they were
down substantially, and he again praised EBS, explaining that there was a “very
strong development of the marketplace in the commoditization of bandwidth”
and “we’re feeling very good about the development of this business.” Skilling
was silent again while Rice and Koenig understated EBS’s non-core revenues.
On July 17, 2001, Skilling told investors that EES “had an outstanding
second quarter” and was “firmly on track to achieve” its earnings targets. That
quarter alone, EES lost hundreds of millions of dollars. Skilling reiterated that
the EES reorganization was based on a concern for management efficiency, while
the government contends that the only purpose of the EES reorganization was
to hide EES’s losses.
C. Manipulating Enron’s Reserves
Skilling also allegedly committed fraud when he manipulated Enron’s
reserves to hit specific earnings targets in the fourth quarter of 1999, the second
quarter of 2000, and the fourth quarter of 2000. Stock analysts made various
projections regarding the earnings that Enron would announce each quarter,
and the average of these estimates was known as the “consensus estimate.” The
government claims that Skilling was particularly committed to hitting or beating
the consensus estimate. In January 2000, the consensus estimate for the fourth
quarter of 1999 was earnings of 30¢ per share, which Enron could meet based
on its earnings for that quarter. The day before the company was to announce
its earnings, however, Koenig brought Skilling unwelcome news: the consensus
estimate had jumped a penny per share. Skilling purportedly decided to
7
No. 06-20885
announce earnings high enough to reach the estimate, even though the increase
was not merited by any change in Enron’s underlying financial portrait.
Skilling allegedly took a similar unwarranted action at the end of the
second quarter of 2000. At that time, the consensus estimate was 32¢ per share.
A draft earnings report showed that Enron was going to announce earnings that
met the estimate. Skilling, however, wanted to beat the consensus estimate by
reporting 34¢ per share. To do that, he allegedly told Wholesale to increase its
earnings by $7 million, and then by an additional $7 million. Wholesale
acquiesced both times, reopening its books and adding $14 million from a reserve
account that it had set aside to cover potential liabilities. The government
claims that Enron did not have a business reason for using its reserves to
increase Wholesale’s earnings, instead doing so solely to exceed analysts’
expectations.
The government contends that Skilling improperly used the reserve
accounts again later that year. Wholesale’s business was very profitable during
the second half of 2000, and by late December it had placed over $850 million in
reserves. The decision to put that money away was not based on feared future
liabilities; instead, Wholesale set that money aside specifically to use in the
event of an unfavorable consensus estimate. At the end of the fourth quarter,
Skilling ordered that Enron recall some of that money to guarantee that Enron
could announce a specific level of earnings.
D. Third-Party Entities LJM and LJM2
Another avenue of Skilling’s alleged fraud came from his use of pseudo
third-party entity LJM (and later LJM2) to improperly hedge its investments,
doing so through four “secret” oral side deals. Fastow, Enron’s CFO, proposed
to Skilling and Causey that they create an entity to help Enron more easily meet
market expectations. The impetus for creating LJM was the $200 million that
Enron had received from an investment in a company called Rhythms Net.
8
No. 06-20885
Enron wanted to book that money, but it was possible that the value of the
investment would drop, meaning that the asset’s expected value would have to
be reduced. By transferring the asset to a pseudo third-party, however, Enron
could hedge its investment without needing to pay market rates for this hedging
service. The government claims that LJM became that pseudo third-party.
Enron contributed $234 million of its own shares in seed money to form LJM.
Fastow, who was LJM’s general partner, contributed $1 million, and outside
investors contributed $15 million.
Enron encountered a potential problem, however, with using LJM to hedge
its investments. Fastow faced a conflict of interest, because he was both Enron’s
CFO and LJM’s general partner. Before Enron could sign a deal with LJM,
Enron’s code of conduct required the Office of the Chairman, which consisted of
Skilling and Lay, to waive the conflict rules, and Enron would have to disclose
this waiver in its Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filings.4 The
Office of the Chairman granted the waiver, but allegedly not without first
creating controversy within Enron’s senior leadership.5
After forming LJM to hedge the Rhythms Net investment, Enron’s first
deal with LJM involved an interest in a Brazilian power plant, known as Cuiaba,
that Enron sold to LJM in 1999. Enron was concerned that its South American
unit would not meet its earnings targets, so it decided to sell its interest in
4
Fastow purportedly explained to Enron’s Board of Directors that Causey and Skilling
reviewed all Enron/LJM transactions. Causey also told the Board that Enron’s Office of the
Chairman reviewed all of the deals. In November 2001, when Enron was on the precipice of
demise, it told the SEC that it had approval for all of the allegedly fraudulent transactions.
5
The Board of Directors was nervous that the media would find out, a so-called “Wall
Street Journal risk.” Many of Enron’s managers objected as well, and Vince Kaminski, who
was responsible for ensuring that Enron avoid taking unnecessary risks, complained. His
objection was this: if both Rhythms Net’s and Enron’s stock lost value, then LJM could be
undercapitalized, as the vast majority of its capital was Enron stock. Kaminski said that Skil-
ling told him his group “acted more like cops, preventing people from executing transactions
instead of helping them.” After the LJM deal was approved, Skilling transferred Kaminski’s
group from Enron’s Risk and Analytics Control group to Wholesale.
9
No. 06-20885
Cuiaba to obtain additional revenue. Initially, Enron tried to find a third party
to buy the interest in Cuiaba, but was unsuccessful. Skilling, the government
claims, then called Fastow and tried to sell Enron’s interest in Cuiaba to LJM.
Fastow at first was not interested; not only was the asset a bad investment,
there was no time for due diligence. Skilling allegedly replied, “Don’t worry. I’ll
make sure that you’re all right on the project. You won’t lose any money.” That
oral understanding did not appear in the deal write-up, and the accountants
treated it as a real sale, even though, based on the alleged oral understanding
between Skilling and Fastow, it was not a legitimate sale.
Enron eventually bought back the Cuiaba interest, paying full value
(notwithstanding depreciation) plus 13%. Allegedly to camouflage the deal by
avoiding round numbers, LJM received an extra $42,000 above the 13%. To
allay further scrutiny, before Enron bought back the interest, Fastow apparently
“sold” his interest in LJM to Michael Kopper (“Kopper”), a former Enron
executive. That way, Enron did not need to describe the Cuiaba buyback as a
transaction with a related party. For this to work, however, Skilling needed to
honor his secret oral promise to Fastow that LJM would not lose money on the
deal, despite Kopper becoming LJM’s chief; the government claims that Skilling
orally confirmed that he would do so.
The second allegedly fraudulent secret side deal between Enron and LJM
involved the sale of Nigerian barges.6 The government claims that in the waning
days of 1999, LJM warehoused assets for Enron, allowing Enron to claim
earnings during 1999 while it arranged for permanent buyers after the end of
6
Around this time, LJM apparently was running out of capital, so Fastow raised nearly
$400 million in capital and formed LJM2, another third-party entity that could conduct deals
with Enron. In the fall of 2000, Fastow confided in Skilling that LJM2 was also stretched, and
he proposed the creation of LJM3. The government claims that Skilling approved LJM3,
saying to put “as much juice” as possible into it. LJM3, however, was never organized. For
simplicity, we refer to all of these third-party entities throughout this opinion as “LJM,” except
where we quote directly from the parties’ briefs or the record.
10
No. 06-20885
the year. With respect to the Nigerian barges deal, in late 1999, Enron sought
to sell its interest in a group of barges anchored off the coast of Nigeria to meet
an earnings target at the end of the quarter. Most investors were nervous about
putting money into Nigeria, so Enron could not find a buyer.
Skilling allegedly called Fastow into his office and asked for LJM to buy
the barges, again saying he would “make sure” that LJM would not lose money.
Fastow initially was reluctant, because he was trying to raise money for LJM
and did not want to scare off investors. However, he told Skilling that LJM
would purchase the Nigerian barges if Enron could not find another investor
within six months.
Fastow, on behalf of Enron, then arranged for Merrill Lynch to buy the
Nigerian barges from Enron. Although Merrill Lynch did not really want to
purchase the barges, Fastow purportedly made an oral “guarantee”—although
he likely did not use that word—that Merrill Lynch would have to hold the
barges for only six months in return for a risk-free profit. Because Merrill
Lynch’s investment was not at risk, the government alleges that Enron
improperly treated the transaction as a sale and should not have recorded any
earnings from the deal. At the end of the six months, Enron still could not find
another buyer, so LJM purchased the interest from Merrill Lynch, apparently
without even negotiating over price. Causey allegedly assured LJM that it
would earn a guaranteed return on the deal, meaning that there was no transfer
of risk to LJM. In sum, the government asserts that the sale of the Nigerian
barges was not a true sale and that Enron improperly recognized earnings from
the deal.
The third secret oral side deal involved the “Raptors,” which were special
purpose entities (“SPE”) that would hedge assets for Enron, meaning that if the
assets decreased in value, a Raptor would cover the difference—at least on
paper. The government asserts that for Enron to validly hedge an asset, a third
11
No. 06-20885
party must own at least three percent of the SPE’s equity, and that equity must
be at risk. The government alleges that LJM acted as that “third party” even
though it was not really a separate entity, agreeing to provide the equity that
would be at risk.
The government contends that to fund the Raptors, LJM contributed $30
million and Enron spent $400 million of its own stock. Apparently, Fastow was
at first against mixing LJM with the Raptors, but the government argues that
Skilling convinced him through a “secret” side deal, whereby after funding the
Raptors, LJM would recoup its $30 million and would receive an additional $11
million. To do this, Enron agreed to pay $41 million to the Raptors to purchase
a “put”7 on the stock Enron had contributed to the Raptors. The Raptors then
transferred that $41 million to LJM. In return, the Raptors had to pay Enron
if the price of the stock Enron used to capitalize the Raptors fell below a certain
level.8 LJM thus had nothing at risk; if the hedged assets dropped in value, the
hedging Raptor, not LJM, was liable for the loss, and LJM recouped the capital
it initially invested in the Raptors, along with an additional $11 million.
To make this transaction work, however, Enron’s accountants had to sign
off. Arthur Andersen, Enron’s external auditor, approved the $41 million
payment to LJM once it was described as a return “on” capital to LJM and not
a return “of” capital. The auditors allegedly were not told that LJM and Enron
did not haggle over the value of the hedged assets or that LJM was not actually
a true third party. The government terms this entire deal—both Enron’s “put”
7
A “put” is an option contract that gives the holder the right to sell certain stock to the
writer of the option at a specified price up to a specified date.
8
The government alleges that by purchasing the “put,” Enron was betting that its own
stock price would drop, because the Raptor would have to pay Enron if the price of the stock
dropped below a certain point. Skilling claims that the “put” was merely a self-insurance
mechanism.
12
No. 06-20885
and LJM’s return promise to allow Enron to hedge an asset at any value—the
“quid pro quo.”
The Raptors were also involved in other transactions. For example, in
2000, Enron hedged EBS’s investment in Avici, an internet company, into one
of the Raptors. That asset, at its highest value, was worth around $160 million,
but the value was decreasing. Enron allegedly hedged the Avici interest with a
Raptor at its highest value. The asset plummeted in value over the next few
months, but because of the allegedly fraudulent hedge, Enron did not record the
loss. Under the government’s theory, Skilling knew all about the deceit and
even told Fastow to “[k]eep it up.” The alleged fraud continued throughout 2000.
In fact, by the end of 2000, another one of the Raptors lost more than $100
million because of similar hedging. In total, Enron’s use of the Raptors allegedly
kept nearly $500 million in losses off of Enron’s books in 2000.
The fourth “secret” side deal the government presented was “Global
Galactic.” Global Galactic was not actually a single deal but instead was the
name that Fastow gave to the three-page handwritten list of his undocumented
side deals with Enron. Fastow claimed that he created the list to keep track of
the various deals and to ensure that he was on the same page as Enron’s
management on the substance of these deals. Skilling asserts that he had no
connection to the deals on this list.
E. False Representations to Auditors and Insider Trading
In addition to conspiracy and securities fraud, the jury also convicted
Skilling for making false representations to auditors and insider trading.
Skilling was required to sign Enron’s SEC reports. The government claims that
Skilling knew of the many false statements within Enron’s SEC filings. For
example, Enron characterized the money it obtained from selling the Cuiaba
interest and from the Nigerian barges deal as legitimate income, when in fact
these deals did not represent true sales. Likewise, although Enron had finalized
13
No. 06-20885
the terms of its buyback of the Cuiaba interest much earlier, Enron allegedly
delayed the transaction so Fastow could sell his interest in LJM to Kopper, with
the goal of allowing Enron to avoid disclosing the buyback as a related-party
transaction in its SEC reports.
The government also claims that Enron kept Arthur Andersen in the dark
about the false statements in its SEC filings. Skilling and other members of
Enron’s management were required to give Arthur Andersen certain
management-representation letters, which actually contained known falsehoods,
thus negating the validity of the audits. The assertedly false statements
included claims that the auditors had access to all financial records and that
Enron had disclosed all related-party transactions.
When Skilling resigned from Enron in August 2001, Enron’s internal
financial numbers were ghastly. On September 6, 2001, Skilling allegedly called
his broker and tried to sell 200,000 shares of Enron stock. The sale did not go
through, however, because the SEC still listed Skilling as an Enron “affiliate.”
This designation meant that the broker had to disclose the sale to the SEC and
the public, which Skilling wished to avoid. Skilling allegedly told his broker to
wait to complete the transaction until he obtained a letter from Enron saying
that he was no longer a part of Enron’s management.
Skilling sent that letter to his broker on September 10. Because of the
terrorist attacks of September 11, Skilling was unable to sell his shares until
September 17, the first day the markets reopened. He allegedly called his broker
on that day, reiterated his order to sell, and told him he did not want the people
at Enron to know about it. When Skilling testified before the SEC in December
2001, he stated that he sold the shares because he became “scared” after the
September 11 attack and that “[t]here was no other reason other than
September 11th that I sold the stock.” The government contends that Skilling’s
testimony was a lie and that the sale amounted to insider trading.
14
No. 06-20885
II. Trial and Sentence
According to the government, Skilling’s conduct constitutes multiple
instances of criminal activity. In July 2004, a grand jury returned a superseding
indictment charging Skilling, Lay, and Causey with various counts of conspiracy,
securities fraud, wire fraud, and insider trading. The indictment charged
Skilling with one count of conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud,
fourteen counts of securities fraud, four counts of wire fraud, six counts of
making false representations to auditors, and ten counts of insider trading.
Several weeks before trial began, Causey pleaded guilty to one count of
securities fraud, and the government dropped four counts against Skilling that
involved Causey. Skilling and Lay went to trial, and, at the close of its case, the
government eliminated four additional counts.
At trial, Skilling argued that he did not break any laws, that he was loyal
to Enron, and that he consistently relied on competent legal and accounting
advice; he characterized any falsehoods in his statements to analysts as
immaterial in content and context. He also challenged the veracity of the
government’s witnesses, such as Fastow and Glisan. For example, Skilling
claimed that Fastow’s testimony regarding Skilling and Fastow’s alleged shared
understanding about Cuiaba and the Nigerian barges—“bear hugs,” in Fastow’s
words—did not reflect what Skilling said but merely consisted of Fastow’s
misinterpretations. Skilling also questioned the validity of the so-called Global
Galactic list.
In May 2006, the jury found Skilling guilty of nineteen counts: one count
of conspiracy, twelve counts of securities fraud, five counts of making false
statements, and one count of insider trading; the jury acquitted Skilling of nine
counts of insider trading. The jury convicted Lay of every count against him.9
9
On July 5, 2006, Lay died, causing the court to vacate his conviction and dismiss his
indictment. United States v. Lay, 456 F. Supp. 2d 869, 870 (S.D. Tex. 2006).
15
No. 06-20885
The district court sentenced Skilling to 292 months’ imprisonment, three years’
supervised release, and $45 million in restitution.
III. Honest-Services Fraud Allegation
On appeal, Skilling argues that we must reverse all of his convictions
because the government used an invalid theory of “honest-services fraud” to
convict him. The jury convicted Skilling of one count of conspiracy. The
indictment and the government’s theory allowed for three objects of the
conspiracy: to commit (1) securities fraud, (2) wire fraud to deprive Enron and
its shareholders of money and property, and (3) wire fraud to deprive Enron and
its shareholders of the honest services owed by its employees. Because the jury
returned a general verdict, we cannot know on which of the three objects it
relied.
In Yates v. United States, 354 U.S. 298, 312 (1957), the Supreme Court
held that where a jury returns a general verdict of guilt that might rest on
multiple legal theories, at least one insufficient in law and the others sufficient,
the verdict must be set aside. In such a situation, we cannot trust the jury to
have chosen the legally sufficient theory and to have ignored the insufficient one,
because “[j]urors are not generally equipped to determine whether a particular
theory of conviction submitted to them is contrary to law.” Griffin v. United
States, 502 U.S. 46, 59 (1991).
In Yates, the defendant was charged with a single count of conspiracy with
two objects: (1) to advocate the overthrow of the federal government and (2) to
organize the Communist Party of the United States. Yates, 354 U.S. at 300. The
“organize” object, however, was time-barred and thus legally insufficient. Id. at
304-11. The Court overturned the conviction, because it was not apparent
whether the jury’s verdict rested on the legally sufficient “advocate” object or the
legally insufficient “organize” object. Id. at 312.
16
No. 06-20885
Likewise, if any of the three objects of Skilling’s conspiracy offers a legally
insufficient theory, we must set aside his conviction to avoid the possibility that
the verdict rests on the insufficient theory.10 Skilling avers that the
honest-services fraud object of the conspiracy count is legally insufficient,
mandating the reversal of the conspiracy conviction. He claims that this would
also taint the convictions that rely upon the conspiracy count. We review de
novo whether a theory of conviction is legally insufficient. United States v.
Phillips, 219 F.3d 404, 409 (5th Cir. 2000) (“We review questions of law and
application of statutes de novo.”).
The honest-services statute provides that “the term ‘scheme or artifice to
defraud’ includes a scheme or artifice to deprive another of the intangible right
of honest services.” 18 U.S.C. § 1346. That is, the statute defines the “scheme
or artifice to defraud” language found in the substantive mail and wire fraud
statutes, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341 and 1343, respectively, to include the substantive
crime of depriving another of one’s honest services. Thus, wherever mail or wire
fraud is an object of a conspiracy, there are two possible objects that can be
charged: use of the mails or wires to deprive another of (1) property or money
or (2) honest services. See 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1343.
Although § 1346 defines “scheme or artifice to defraud,” it offers no
definition of “honest services.” Before the enactment of § 1346 in 1988, courts
read the notion of honest services into the wire and mail fraud statutes.11 Both
§ 1341 and § 1343 read, “Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any
10
The Supreme Court recently ruled that, on collateral review, an error of this type is
subject to harmless error analysis, in which the “reviewing court finding such error should ask
whether the flaw in the instructions ‘had substantial and injurious effect or influence in
determining the jury’s verdict.’” See Hedgpeth v. Pulido, 129 S. Ct. 530, 530-31 (2008) (quoting
Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U.S. 619, 623 (1993)).
11
See McNally v. United States, 483 U.S. 350, 355, 358 (1987); United States v.
Brumley, 116 F.3d 728, 731 (5th Cir. 1997) (en banc); see also United States v. Rybicki, 354
F.3d 124, 133 (2d Cir. 2003) (en banc).
17
No. 06-20885
scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property . . . .” Courts
read the disjunctive between “to defraud” and “for obtaining money or property”
as indicating two separate objects of the scheme or artifice. McNally v. United
States, 483 U.S. 350, 358 (1987). Money or property was one object, and courts
construed “to defraud” to include schemes whose object was the deprivation of
intangible rights such as honest services. Id.
With McNally, the Supreme Court ended prosecution for honest-services
fraud as a part of mail fraud. Id. at 358-60. The disjunctive phrase in the
mail-fraud statute did not indicate that there were two objects of the fraud;
rather, the Court “read § 1341 as limited in scope to the protection of property
rights.” Id. at 360. In response, Congress enacted § 1346, which this court and
others have held was intended to overturn McNally with respect to the inclusion
of the right to honest services under §§ 1341 and 1343 and to restore “the honest-
services doctrine developed in the years leading up to McNally.” United States
v. Brumley, 116 F.3d 728, 733 (5th Cir. 1997) (en banc); see also United States
v. Rybicki, 354 F.3d 124, 136-37 (2d Cir. 2003) (en banc). Thus, to determine
what constituted “honest-services” fraud, we looked to our pre-McNally
precedent and then set forth the rule for this circuit. Brumley, 116 F.3d at 733-
34 (“We decide today that services must be owed under state law and that the
government must prove in a federal prosecution that they were in fact not
delivered.”).
In United States v. Gray, 96 F.3d 769 (5th Cir. 1996), we considered the
honest-services statute in the context of a private employer and employees. A
jury convicted three assistant basketball coaches at Baylor University (“Baylor”)
of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud by depriving Baylor of its honest
services through a scheme to obtain credits and scholarships for players in
violation of National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) rules. Id. at 772.
The coaches argued that honest-services fraud “improperly criminalize[d] mere
18
No. 06-20885
deceit,” because the coaches had broken no law, only a private association’s
rules, and “they lacked the requisite intent to either harm the victims or to
obtain personal benefit . . . . Essentially, [the coaches] argue[d] that their
scheme was not intended to harm Baylor but rather to help Baylor by ensuring
a successful basketball team.” Id. at 774. We rejected the argument and noted
that a breach of fiduciary duty of honesty or loyalty involving a
violation of the duty to disclose could only result in criminal mail
fraud where the information withheld from the employer was
material and that, where the employer was in the private sector,
information should be deemed material if the employee had reason
to believe the information would lead a reasonable employer to
change its business conduct.
Id. at 774-75 (quoting United States v. Ballard, 680 F.2d 352, 353 (Former 5th
Cir. 1982) (per curiam) (on petition for rehearing)). We concluded that the
information the coaches withheld, namely that they were cheating, was material;
had Baylor been aware of their actions, it undoubtedly would have changed its
business conduct by recruiting players who satisfied NCAA requirements. Id.
at 775. In light of our conclusions, the coaches’ conspiracy to violate NCAA rules
was a federal crime; that their intent was to help rather than harm the
university was of no consequence. Id. at 774-75.
In United States v. Brown, 459 F.3d 509 (5th Cir. 2006), we again
addressed honest-services fraud and refined our jurisprudence. The
defendants12 arranged for the Nigerian barges deal we described above, whereby
Enron “sold” three energy-producing barges to Merrill Lynch. Id. at 513. The
“purchase” allowed Enron to book, as earnings, the money it received from
Merrill Lynch, thereby helping Enron meet its earnings targets. Id. at 513-16.
In return, Enron assured Merrill Lynch a fixed rate of return on the
12
The government tried two Enron employees and four Merrill Lynch employees.
Brown, 459 F.3d at 513-14. The jury acquitted one Enron employee and convicted the other
five defendants; only the Merrill Lynch employees appealed. Id.
19
No. 06-20885
investment—a flat fee—and promised that Enron or a third party would
repurchase the barges within six months. Id. Such an agreement, however,
would have rendered the deal a loan from Merrill Lynch to Enron, because
Merrill Lynch had no equity at stake. Id. As a loan, the transaction could have
no positive impact on Enron’s earnings, meaning that it was fraudulent for
Enron to book any earnings from the deal. Id.
After surveying our prior honest-services jurisprudence, we reversed the
defendants’ convictions, concluding that their conduct did not fall within the
bounds of the honest-services statute. Id. at 523. In particular, we held that
where an employer intentionally aligns the interests of the employee
with a specified corporate goal, where the employee perceives his
pursuit of that goal as mutually benefitting him and his employer,
and where the employee’s conduct is consistent with that perception
of the mutual interest, such conduct is beyond the reach of the
honest-services theory of fraud as it has hitherto been applied.
Id. at 522. Importantly, we expounded upon our understanding of honest-
services fraud by providing a crucial distinction from the facts in Gray:
Gray is distinguishable both factually and legally. Gray is
dissimilar to this case in part because the opinion recognizes
nothing akin to Enron’s corporate incentive policy coupled with
senior executive support for the deal (the deal was sanctioned by
Fastow, Enron’s Chief Financial Officer), which together created an
understanding that Enron had a corporate interest in, and was a
willing beneficiary of, the scheme. The opinion in Gray presents
only the coaches’ own belief that their scheme benefitted the
university; no one or any authority outside the cadre of coaches
encouraged, approved, or even knew of the wrongdoing.
Id. at 522 n.13. Given the gloss this passage places on Gray, we can distill the
holding in Brown to be the following: when an employer (1) creates a particular
goal, (2) aligns the employees’ interests with the employer’s interest in achieving
that goal, and (3) has higher-level management sanction improper conduct to
reach the goal, then lower-level employees following their boss’s direction are not
20
No. 06-20885
liable for honest-services fraud. Thus, we reversed the convictions of the
employees in Brown because they were acting both in the corporate interest and
at the direction of their employer. Id. at 522. In essence, Brown created an
exception for honest-services fraud where an employer not only aligns its
interests with the interests of its employees but also sanctions the fraudulent
conduct, i.e., where the corporate decisionmakers, who supervised the employees
being prosecuted, specifically authorized the activity.
Skilling does not contest that he owed Enron a fiduciary duty. Instead, he
contends that his conduct did not breach that duty, because his fraud was in the
corporate interest and therefore was not self-dealing. In particular, Skilling
asserts that he did not engage in his conduct in secret. Skilling further latches
onto our discussion in Brown regarding corporate interest and contends that his
actions were not fraudulent because he acted in pursuit of Enron’s goals of
achieving a higher stock price.
If this were the correct reading of Brown, that decision would be in
irreconcilable conflict with Gray, which binds us, as the basketball coaches in
Gray acted pursuant to their employer’s interest of having a winning basketball
team. “When two panel opinions appear in conflict, it is the earlier which
controls,” Harvey v. Blake, 913 F.2d 226, 228 n.2 (5th Cir. 1990), as “one panel
of this court cannot overrule the decision of another panel,” United States v.
Darrington, 351 F.3d 632, 634 (5th Cir. 2003).
Skilling misconstrues our holding in Brown, however, because he fails to
recognize the manner in which the court in Brown explicitly distinguished Gray.
As we noted above, Gray and Brown present different facts; in Gray, the
basketball coaches acted on their own volition, without any direction from their
supervisors, while in Brown, a lower-level Enron employee acted at the direction
of Fastow, who as a decisionmaker had the authority to tell his employee that
Enron sanctioned the particular fraud in question. See Gray, 96 F.3d at 775; see
21
No. 06-20885
also Brown, 459 F.3d at 522 & n.13. The difference is that in Brown, the
employee undertook the specific fraud in question at the direction of the
employer, while this did not occur in Gray. In essence, because the Enron
decisionmaker in Brown sanctioned the specific fraudulent conduct of its
employee, the employee (and the other conspirators) did not deprive Enron of its
honest services. Thus, for example, had the basketball coaches in Gray showed
that the President of Baylor University or other decisionmakers specifically
directed their fraudulent conduct, then they would not have been liable for
honest-services fraud.
Applying this rule, Skilling’s convictions must stand. First, Enron created
a goal of meeting certain earnings projections. Second, Enron aligned its
interests with Skilling’s personal interests, e.g., through his compensation
structure, leading Skilling to undertake fraudulent means to achieve the goal.
Third—and fatally to Skilling’s argument—no one at Enron sanctioned Skilling’s
improper conduct. That is, Skilling does not allege that the Board of Directors
or any other decisionmaker specifically directed the improper means that he
undertook to achieve his goals. Of course, a senior executive cannot wear his
“executive” hat to sanction a fraudulent scheme and then wear his “employee”
hat to perpetuate that fraud. Therefore, it is not a matter of Skilling setting the
corporation’s policy himself. Instead, the question is whether anyone who
supervised Skilling specifically directed his actions—such as how Fastow
sanctioned the scheme in Brown. Skilling never alleged that he engaged in his
conduct at the explicit direction of anyone, and therefore he cannot avail himself
of the exception from Brown.
That the Board of Directors approved several of the fraudulent
transactions is of no moment.13 Tacitly approving a sale is not the same as
13
Additionally, there is no evidence that the Board of Directors approved of the secret
side deals between Skilling and Fastow.
22
No. 06-20885
having senior executives direct their lower-level employees to engage in
fraudulent conduct. Skilling reads a requirement of secrecy into the holding in
Brown, asserting that it is not honest-services fraud if the employer knows of the
fraud in question. This argument is unavailing, for two reasons. First, a
requirement of secrecy (or lack thereof) does not appear in Brown. Second, it
makes no difference that the Board of Directors knew of Skilling’s conduct if
Enron (through the Board or its senior executives) did not actually direct
Skilling to undertake the fraudulent means to achieve his goals.
The elements of honest-services wire fraud applicable here are (1) a
material breach of a fiduciary duty imposed under state law,14 including duties
defined by the employer-employee relationship,15 (2) that results in a detriment
to the employer.16 Brown sheds light on the employer-employee relationship by
creating an exception for when the employer specifically directs the fraudulent
conduct. Further, it is a sufficient detriment for an employee, contrary to his
duty of honesty, to withhold material information, i.e., information that he had
reason to believe would lead a reasonable employer to change its conduct.17
Accordingly, the jury was entitled to convict Skilling of conspiracy to commit
honest-services wire fraud on these elements. Thus, although we do not know
on which alleged object of the conspiracy the jury based its verdict, there is no
14
See Brumley, 116 F.3d at 734; United States v. Ballard, 663 F.2d 534, 541 (Former
5th Cir. Dec. 1981) (original panel opinion).
15
See United States v. Caldwell, 302 F.3d 399, 409 (5th Cir. 2002); Brumley, 116 F.3d
at 734.
16
See Ballard, 663 F.2d at 540.
17
See id. at 540-41; see also Gray, 96 F.3d at 774-75 (quoting Ballard, 680 F.2d at 353).
23
No. 06-20885
risk that Skilling was convicted of conspiracy based on a legally insufficient
theory, and the jury was entitled to convict on any or all of the three objects.18
IV. Jury Instructions
Skilling raises four alleged errors arising from either the instructions that
the district court gave to the jury or Skilling’s proposed instructions that the
court rejected. Specifically, Skilling asserts that the district court improperly
(1) instructed the jury on “deliberate ignorance,” (2) denied the jury adequate
guidance on the legal meaning of “materiality” in the context of the charges
against him, (3) denied his proposed “side deal” instruction, and (4) denied his
proposed “good faith” instruction.
In assessing a jury instruction, we consider whether it is a “correct
statement of the law,” United States v. Pompa, 434 F.3d 800, 805 (5th Cir. 2005)
(internal quotation marks omitted), whether it “clearly instructs jurors,” id., and
whether it is “factually supportable,” United States v. Mendoza-Medina, 346 F.3d
121, 132 (5th Cir. 2003) (“[T]he court may not instruct the jury on a charge that
is not supported by evidence.”) (internal quotation marks omitted). We review
for abuse of discretion and, in deciding whether the evidence reasonably
supports the charge, we construe the evidence in the light most favorable to the
government. United States v. Fuchs, 467 F.3d 889, 901 (5th Cir. 2006) (citing
cases), cert. denied, 127 S. Ct. 1502 (2007). Additionally, we afford the district
court “substantial latitude in formulating the charge.” United States v.
Pettigrew, 77 F.3d 1500, 1510 (5th Cir. 1996). A district court’s error in giving
the jury instructions is subject to harmless error review. United States v.
Edelkind, 525 F.3d 388, 397 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 129 S. Ct. 246 (2008); United
18
Because Skilling’s conspiracy conviction is legally sound, the so-called Pinkerton
instruction, see Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640 (1946), was appropriate, and the jury
was entitled to convict Skilling of the other substantive counts based on the actions of his co-
conspirators.
24
No. 06-20885
States v. Ibarra-Zelaya, 465 F.3d 596, 607 (5th Cir. 2006), cert. denied, 127 S. Ct.
992, and cert. denied, 127 S. Ct. 3056, and cert. denied, 127 S. Ct. 3056 (2007).
Moreover, a court’s rejection of a proposed jury instruction constitutes
“reversible error only where the requested instruction is substantially correct;
the actual charge given the jury did not substantially cover the content of the
proposed instruction; and where the omission of the proposed instruction would
‘seriously impair the defendant’s ability to present a defense.’” United States v.
Loe, 248 F.3d 449, 459 (5th Cir. 2001) (quoting Pettigrew, 77 F.3d at 1510).
A. Deliberate Ignorance
Skilling claims that the district court erred in giving a “deliberate
ignorance” instruction. The instruction, borrowed verbatim from Fifth Circuit
Pattern Instruction 1.37, informed jurors that they could infer a defendant’s
knowledge of facts from evidence that he was deliberately ignorant of such
facts.19 Skilling objected to the instruction and argues that the evidence did not
support it.
“Deliberate ignorance” amounts to a half-step between the highest mens
rea standard of “knowledge” and the lower standards of “recklessness” and
“negligence.” It “‘denotes a conscious effort to avoid positive knowledge of a fact
which is an element of an offense charged, the defendant choosing to remain
ignorant so he can plead lack of positive knowledge in the event he should be
19
The instruction stated,
The word “knowingly,” as that term is used throughout these
instructions, means that the act was done voluntarily and intentionally, not
because of mistake or accident.
You may find that a defendant had knowledge of a fact if you find that
the defendant deliberately closed his eyes to what would otherwise have been
obvious to him. While knowledge on the part of the defendant cannot be
established merely by demonstrating that the defendant was negligent, careless,
or foolish, knowledge can be inferred if the defendant deliberately blinded
himself to the existence of a fact.
25
No. 06-20885
caught.’” United States v. Lara-Velasquez, 919 F.2d 946, 951 (5th Cir. 1990)
(quoting United States v. Restrepo-Granda, 575 F.2d 524, 528 (5th Cir. 1978)).
Thus, we have noted that “[t]he key aspect of deliberate ignorance is the
conscious action of the defendant—the defendant [must have] consciously
attempted to escape confirmation of conditions or events he strongly suspected
to exist.” Id. In simplest terms, deliberate ignorance is reflected in a criminal
defendant’s actions that suggest, in effect, “Don’t tell me, I don’t want to know.”
Id. (citing United States v. de Luna, 815 F.2d 301, 302 (5th Cir. 1987)). The
instruction’s purpose “is to inform the jury that it may consider evidence of the
defendant’s charade of ignorance as circumstantial proof of guilty knowledge.”
Id.
Although we have frequently upheld the use of deliberate ignorance
instructions, we have just as frequently warned of a risk inherent in them:
Because the instruction permits a jury to convict a defendant
without a finding that the defendant was actually aware of the
existence of illegal conduct, the deliberate ignorance instruction
poses the risk that a jury might convict the defendant on a lesser
negligence standardSSthe defendant should have been aware of the
illegal conduct.
Id. The source of this risk is the potential for confusion about the degree of
“deliberateness” required to convert ordinary, innocent ignorance into guilty
knowledge. The concern is that once a jury learns that it can convict a defendant
despite evidence of a lack of knowledge, it will be misled into thinking that it can
convict based on negligent or reckless ignorance rather than intentional
ignorance. In other words, the jury may erroneously apply a lesser mens rea
requirement: a “should have known” standard of knowledge.
In light of that concern, a district court should give the deliberate
ignorance instruction only in the “rare” instance where there is significant
evidence of deliberate ignorance. Id. “[T]he district court should not instruct the
26
No. 06-20885
jury on deliberate ignorance when the evidence raises only the inferences that
the defendant had actual knowledge or no knowledge at all of the facts in
question.” Id. Rather, for the instruction to be warranted, “[t]he evidence at
trial must raise two inferences: (1) the defendant was subjectively aware of a
high probability of the existence of the illegal conduct; and (2) the defendant
purposely contrived to avoid learning of the illegal conduct.” Lara-Velasquez,
919 F.2d at 951. Thus, where there is no such evidence, a district court should
not give the instruction because there is no basis for finding deliberate
ignorance. In such a case, it is usually harmful, because it is likely to lead the
jury to find that the defendant had the requisite knowledge when he in fact did
not. Cf. Lara-Velasquez, 919 F.2d at 951 (describing the risk inherent in the
deliberate ignorance instruction).
For example, in United States v. Ojebode, 957 F.2d 1218, 1229 (5th Cir.
1992), we reversed a conviction for illegally importing heroin into the United
States based on an improper deliberate ignorance instruction. The defendant
carried drugs on a flight from Germany to Mexico that happened to have a
layover in Houston, and he was arrested with the drugs during the layover. Id.
at 1221-22. He argued that he did not knowingly bring the heroin into the
United States because he did not know the flight stopped in Houston. Id. at
1223-24.
The district court gave a deliberate ignorance instruction, and the
defendant was convicted. Id. at 1229. We reversed, because there was no
evidence that the defendant had “tried to avoid learning of the flight’s scheduled
landing in Houston,” “refused to view the posted flight schedule[,] or absented
himself from places where he would be likely to learn of his Lufthansa Flight’s
likely stops.” Id. In other words, there was no purposeful contrivance to avoid
learning of a relevant fact, so there was insufficient evidence of deliberate
ignorance. Id. The instruction therefore posed too great a risk that the jury
27
No. 06-20885
would convict for his negligent ignorance—i.e., that he should have known where
the flight was headed. See id.
Skilling argues that there was no evidence that he was deliberately
ignorant of any illegal acts. Rather, he claims that he “never denied knowledge
of the relevant underlying acts,” and that at trial he asserted only that those acts
were not illegal. He claims that he “agreed” at trial with the government’s
characterization of him as knowing everything that went on at Enron. He
maintains that his “defense was not that he was unaware of fraud, but that
there was no fraud.” Because his knowledge of allegedly illegal actions was
never in dispute, he claims that “[n]either side argued [he] subjectively suspected
criminal behavior but purposely contrived to avoid learning about it.”20
Even if Skilling is correct that there is little evidence to support a
deliberate ignorance instruction, however, any error in the district court’s
decision to give the instruction was harmless. This is because the peril to be
avoided in cases reversing convictions based on the deliberate ignorance
instruction is not present here. By his own admission, Skilling claims that he
knew of the allegedly illegal acts, so there is no risk that a jury would rely on the
deliberate ignorance instruction to find that he should have known of the acts.
Consequently, even if the district court erred in giving the deliberate ignorance
instruction in the sense that the instruction was “not supported by evidence,”
Mendoza-Medina, 346 F.3d at 132 (internal quotation marks omitted), any such
error was necessarily harmless,21 as we have repeatedly deemed deliberate
20
Skilling also asserts in his reply brief that “[t]here were very few instances where [he]
denied that the alleged conduct happened—he agreed statements were made, conversations
occurred, transactions were approved. Indeed, most were a matter of written record. [His]
position was that the conduct was not criminal or wrongful.”
21
In his reply brief, Skilling suggests we must reverse for any errors regarding
deliberate ignorance instructions because they are per se prejudicial. He points to two
decisions from this circuit that reversed convictions without discussion of prejudice. In the
first, the court did not explicitly find prejudice but, in reversing the defendant’s convictions for
28
No. 06-20885
ignorance instructions harmless where there is “substantial evidence of actual
knowledge.” United States v. Threadgill, 172 F.3d 357, 369 (5th Cir. 1999)
(internal quotation marks omitted).22
Perhaps recognizing that difficulty, Skilling frames the harmfully
misleading effect of the deliberate ignorance instruction as a concern that “the
jury may well have decided [Skilling] should have known the transactions were
fraudulent or merely should have known they were bad business decisions.” In
so arguing, Skilling conflates the requisite mental state for the allegedly
fraudulent acts (“knowingly”) with the requisite mental state for the fraud as a
whole (“willfully and with the intent to defraud”).23
conspiracy to import heroin and importation of heroin, held that in addition to giving an
improper deliberate ignorance instruction, the court committed reversible error by failing to
properly instruct the jury on the scienter element of those offenses. Ojebode, 957 F.2d at 1228-
29. In the second case, we also did not explicitly find prejudice but did consider the deliberate
ignorance error in combination with various other errors, declaring, “[i]n light of the above
discussed erroneous evidentiary rulings and jury instructions, however, we VACATE . . . .”
United States v. Cavin, 39 F.3d 1299, 1311 (5th Cir. 1994). Because harmless error analysis
applies to erroneous deliberate ignorance instructions, see infra note 22, we read these two
cases as making implicit findings of prejudice and not as silently inventing a novel rule of
prejudice per se.
22
See also Threadgill, 172 F.3d at 369 (“[I]t is the evidence of actual knowledge that
proves fatal to the defendants’ claim. We have consistently held that an ‘error in giving the
deliberate ignorance instruction is . . . harmless where there is substantial evidence of actual
knowledge.’” (quoting United States v. Cartwright, 6 F.3d 294, 301 (5th Cir. 1993))); see also,
e.g., United States v. Ricardo, 472 F.3d 277, 286 (5th Cir. 2006) (holding that “[r]esolving this
issue [of whether there was sufficient evidence of deliberate ignorance] is unnecessary . . .
because the giving of a deliberate ignorance instruction is harmless error where substantial
evidence of actual knowledge was presented”), cert. denied, 127 S. Ct. 2076, and cert. denied,
127 S. Ct. 2080 (2007); Mendoza-Medina, 346 F.3d at 135 (holding that where the defendant
confessed and other evidence corroborated the confession, “substantial evidence of [defendant’s]
actual knowledge [rendered] the deliberate ignorance instruction harmless error”); United
States v. Breque, 964 F.2d 381, 388 (5th Cir. 1992) (finding a deliberate ignorance instruction
to be harmless error because “the jury was presented with considerable evidence that [defen-
dant], in fact, knew of the reporting requirements”).
23
For example, the court instructed the jury that it had to find four elements to convict
Skilling of securities fraud. One element related to the acts done in furtherance of the fraud,
and it required a finding that Skilling did those acts “knowingly.” Another element related to
the specific-intent mental state for the securities fraud offense as a whole, and it required a
29
No. 06-20885
The traditional concern over the deliberate ignorance instruction is that
the jury will misconceive the former mental state, which governs the act
element—that is, the jury will erroneously assume that a defendant “knowingly”
acquiesced in an act because he “should have known” about it. Skilling’s
concern, however, is different: he suggests that the deliberate ignorance
instruction caused the jury to misconceive the latter mental state, which governs
the specific-intent element. He asserts that the jury could have erroneously
assumed that he had the specific intent to defraud because he “should have
known” of the acts about which he had, in fact, admitted knowing.
Although plausible in the abstract, the likelihood of confusion in this
atypical instance is not substantial, and it becomes even less so when we
consider the deliberate ignorance instruction in context with the other jury
instructions. Viewed as a whole, the jury instructions made it clear that the
deliberate ignorance instruction related only to the act element and not to the
specific-intent element.
The district court provided the deliberate ignorance instruction as part of
the definition of “knowingly,” a word that applied only to the act element of the
fraud offense.24 In contrast, the definition of “willfully” governed solely the
specific-intent element. The latter definition was emphatic that neither mere
negligence nor bad business judgment suffices to establish the specific intent to
finding “that the defendant acted willfully and with the intent to defraud.”
24
The instructions stated, in relevant part,
The word “knowingly,” as that term is used throughout these
instructions, means that the act was done voluntarily and intentionally, not
because of mistake or accident.
You may find that a defendant had knowledge of a fact if you find that
the defendant deliberately closed his eyes to what would otherwise have been
obvious to him. . . .
Another instruction applied “knowingly” to the act element.
30
No. 06-20885
defraud, and that instruction contained no deliberate ignorance definition. The
“willfully” definition required the jury to find that the defendant acted “with bad
purpose either to disobey or disregard the law.”25 Accordingly, there is no
significant likelihood of confusion, and any error in issuing the deliberate
ignorance instruction was harmless.
B. Materiality
Skilling next asserts that the district court erred in failing to provide the
jury with adequate guidance on the legal meaning of “materiality” with regard
to the charges against him. After explaining to the jury that false statements
or omissions can support a fraud conviction only if they are material, the court
instructed the jury on the definition of materiality.26 Skilling argues that the
instruction was insufficient to convey to a “lay juror who has never invested in
25
The instructions stated, in relevant part,
The term “willfully,” as that term has been used from time to time in
these instructions, means that the act was committed voluntarily and purposely,
with the specific intent to do something the law forbids; that is to say, with bad
purpose either to disobey or disregard the law.
Another instruction applied “willfully” to the specific-intent element.
26
The jury received the following instruction:
If you should decide that a particular statement or a particular omission
was misleading at the time that it was made, then you must determine if the
fact stated or omitted was a “material” fact or a “material” omission under the
evidence received in this case. . . .
In order for you to find a fact or an omission “material,” the government
must prove beyond a reasonable doubt the fact misstated or the fact omitted
was of such importance that it could reasonably be expected to cause or to
induce a person to invest or to cause or to induce a person not to invest in Enron
stock. Assessment of “materiality” requires you to view the fact misstated or the
fact omitted in the context of all the circumstances, including the total mix of
information made available.
The securities fraud statute under which Counts 2, 14, 16-20 and 22-29
of the indictment are brought is concerned only with such “material”
misstatements or such “material” omissions and this statute does not cover
minor, or meaningless, or unimportant misstatements or omissions.
31
No. 06-20885
stock in his or her life” what a reasonable investor would consider important.
In particular, Skilling contends that the court erred by (1) refusing to instruct
the jury about statements that constitute “puffery” and are immaterial as a
matter of law, and (2) denying his proposed supplemental instruction as
unnecessary in light of the instruction the court ultimately gave.27 He argues
that both instructions were necessary because “reasonable investors disregard
all sorts of information that a lay juror might mistakenly consider material,
especially when viewed in hindsight,” and that the district court’s refusal to give
each constitutes reversible error. We address each contention in turn.
1. Puffery
Skilling first challenges the district court’s materiality instruction on the
ground that the court should have specifically instructed the jury on puffery. He
27
The proposed instruction read,
Statements Inherently Not Material S Certain statements are inherently
not material. For example:
Forward-Looking Statements: General predictions about a company, not
worded as guarantees, and generalized positive statements about a company’s
prospects are not material. Similarly, predictions about general economic
conditions cannot be considered material.
Context Makes Statements Immaterial: Even if a forward-looking
statement is shown to be false, it still cannot form the basis of a claim of
securities fraud if other true statements, or other cautionary statements
concerning the subject matter of the statements at issue, sufficiently nullify any
potentially misleading effect.
Facts Already Known to the Market: If the truth about certain facts is
known to the market, a false statement about the same facts is not material,
and therefore cannot form the basis of a claim of securities fraud.
Non-Specific Puffery: Even if a statement is demonstrably false or
misleading, it is not material, and therefore cannot support a claim of securities
fraud, if it is “puffery” S so lacking in specificity, or so clearly constituting the
opinions of the speaker, that no reasonable investor could find the statement im-
portant to the total mix of information he or she would consider when making
an investment decision. For example, a corporation’s commonly-heard self-
praise, corporate cheerleading, and mere expressions of optimism are not consid-
ered seriously by the marketplace and investors in assessing a potential invest-
ment, and thus, such statements are not material.
32
No. 06-20885
sought to have the court tell the jury that even if a statement is false or
misleading, it is mere “puffery” and therefore immaterial if it is “so lacking in
specificity, or so clearly constituting the opinions of the speaker, that no
reasonable investor could find the statement important to the total mix of
information he or she would consider when making an investment decision.”
Such statements, he notes, include “generalized, positive statements about [a]
company’s competitive strengths . . . and future prospects.” Rosenzweig v. Azurix
Corp., 332 F.3d 854, 869 (5th Cir. 2003).
Although Skilling is correct that “an expression of opinion not made as a
representation of fact,” can constitute puffery, Mfg. Research Corp. v. Greenlee
Tool Co., 693 F.2d 1037, 1040 (11th Cir. 1982) (citing Gulf Oil Corp. v. FTC, 150
F.2d 106, 109 (5th Cir. 1945)), not all such statements of opinion are properly
classified as puffery. Similarly, although Skilling correctly points out that
“generalized, positive statements about [a] company’s competitive strengths . . .
and future prospects” can in some cases constitute immaterial puffery, such
statements of opinion by corporate insiders are not per se immaterial. In
Virginia Bankshares, Inc. v. Sandberg, 501 U.S. 1083, 1090, 1098 (1991), the
Supreme Court considered statements that a merger proposal would give
shareholders “a high value for their shares,” and held that such statements could
be deemed material. The Court explained,
[i]t is no answer to argue, as petitioners do, that the quoted
statement on which liability was predicated did not express a reason
in dollars and cents, but focused instead on the “indefinite and
unverifiable” term, “high” value, much like the similar claim that
the merger’s terms were “fair” to shareholders. The objection
ignores the fact that such conclusory terms in a commercial context
are reasonably understood to rest on a factual basis that justifies
them as accurate, the absence of which renders them misleading.
Provable facts either furnish good reasons to make a conclusory
commercial judgment, or they count against it, and expressions of
such judgments can be uttered with knowledge of truth or falsity
just like more definite statements, and defended or attacked
33
No. 06-20885
through the orthodox evidentiary process that either substantiates
their underlying justifications or tends to disprove their
existence. . . . In this case, whether $42 was “high,” and the
proposal “fair” to the minority shareholders, depended on whether
provable facts about the Bank’s assets, and about actual and
potential levels of operation, substantiated a value that was above,
below, or more or less at the $42 figure, when assessed in
accordance with recognized methods of valuation.
Id. at 1093-94 (footnote omitted). Virginia Bankshares thus instructs that
conclusory statements of reasons, belief, or opinion—e.g., “high value” and
“fair”—may be so contrary to the verifiable historical facts that they falsely
“misstate the speaker’s [true] reasons” and “mislead about the stated subject
matter.” Id. at 1095.28 Indeed, the Supreme Court expressly explained that
“there is no room to deny that a statement of belief by corporate directors about
a recommended course of action, or an explanation of their reasons for
recommending it,” can be material. Id. at 1090-91.29
Skilling’s statements about the financial health of Enron were similar to
those deemed potentially material in Virginia Bankshares. For example, at the
2001 analyst conference (count 23), Skilling claimed that all of Enron’s
businesses, including EES and EBS, were “uniquely strong franchises with
sustainable high earnings power.” He also characterized Wholesale as a “stable,
high-growth business” and “not a trading business.” Similarly, on the March 23,
28
See also, e.g., Serabian v. Amoskeag Bank Shares, Inc., 24 F.3d 357, 364-65 (1st Cir.
1994) (deeming material defendant’s statements that loan review capabilities were “strong”
and allowance for loan losses were “sufficient”); In re Wells Fargo Sec. Litig., 12 F.3d 922, 930
(9th Cir. 1993) (deeming material defendant’s statements that loan loss reserves were
“adequate” or “substantially secured”); Shapiro v. UJB Fin. Corp., 964 F.2d 272, 282 (3d Cir.
1992) (deeming material defendant’s statements that loan loss reserves were “adequate” or
“solid”).
29
The Court explained that “[s]hareholders know that directors usually have knowledge
and expertness far exceeding the normal investor’s resources, and the directors’ perceived
superiority is magnified even further by the common knowledge that state law customarily
obliges them to exercise their judgment in the shareholders’ interest.” Va. Bankshares, 501
U.S. at 1091.
34
No. 06-20885
2001 analyst call (count 24), he claimed EBS was having “a great quarter on the
intermediation side of the bandwidth business.” Summarizing EBS, he said that
there was “essentially strong growth on the intermediation side, strong growth
on the content services side, in terms of people, budgets, the whole thing.”
The jury was entitled to find those and similar statements material. The
government presented evidence of contrary, verifiable historical facts regarding
the actual condition of EES, EBS, and Wholesale at the time Skilling made these
statements: EES was facing a potentially enormous loss; EBS had an
unsupportable cost structure, was losing money, was reducing the number of its
employees, and had few customers or profitable deals; and Wholesale was
heavily dependent on unstable, speculative trading.
Moreover, in addressing the question of “whether statements of reasons,
opinions, or beliefs are statements ‘with respect to . . . fact[s]’ so as to fall within
the strictures of [the securities laws],” id. at 1091, the Supreme Court has
concluded that such statements by directors “are factual in two senses: [(1)] as
statements that the directors do act for the reasons given or hold the belief
stated and [(2)] as statements about the subject matter of the reason or belief
expressed,” id. at 1092.30 These statements thus cannot, as a matter of law, be
deemed immaterial puffery, and the district court was correct to leave the
determination of their materiality to the jury.
Skilling unsurprisingly challenges the government on the meaning of his
statements and on the actual condition of the businesses to which the
statements referred. But those are fact questions for the jury to resolve. A
30
See also Va. Bankshares, 501 U.S. at 1093 (“[C]onclusory terms in a commercial
context are reasonably understood to rest on a factual basis that justifies them as accurate,
the absence of which renders them misleading.”); In re Wells Fargo Sec. Litig., 12 F.3d at 927
(“‘[A] complaint does allege an actionable misrepresentation if it alleges that a defendant was
aware that mismanagement had occurred and made a material public statement about the
state of corporate affairs inconsistent with the existence of the mismanagement.’” (quoting
Hayes v. Gross, 982 F.2d 104, 106 (3d Cir. 1992))).
35
No. 06-20885
reasonable jury could find that Skilling’s statements were strongly contrary to
verifiable historical facts about the conditions of the businesses, that he
misstated his true opinion, and that his statements were misleading to a
reasonable investor who would have considered them important. Accordingly,
the statements were not immaterial as a matter of law, and the evidence is
sufficient to support the verdict.
2. Proposed Supplemental Instruction
Skilling next asserts that the district court committed reversible error by
denying his proposed supplemental instruction as unnecessary. Although
Skilling’s proposed instruction was more specific than the one the court gave,
particularly with regard to puffery, the instruction the court provided captured
most of the substance of Skilling’s proposed supplement and adequately
explained “materiality” to the jury.
Skilling’s proposed supplemental instruction would have identified four
specific types of statements that he contends are inherently immaterial:
(1) forward-looking statements, (2) statements that context makes immaterial,
(3) statements regarding facts already known to the market, and (4) statements
amounting to non-specific puffery. Notwithstanding Skilling’s arguments to the
contrary, the district court’s jury instructions properly addressed each of these
types of statements. In its instructions, the court first emphasized that a
statement could be deemed material only if it was “of such importance that it
could reasonably be expected to cause or to induce a person to invest or to cause
or to induce a person not to invest in Enron stock” and explained that
“[a]ssessment of ‘materiality’ requires [the jury] to view the fact misstated or the
fact omitted in the context of all the circumstances, including the total mix of
information made available.”
In light of this charge, Skilling’s supplemental instruction was
unnecessary to adequately explain “materiality” to the jury. The court expressly
36
No. 06-20885
instructed the jury to take context into account in assessing materiality.
Whether a fact is already known to the market such that a statement contrary
to it would not change a person’s investment strategy with respect to Enron
stock is part of that “context of all the circumstances” that the court instructed
the jury to consider.31 Further, the court was correct not to categorically exclude
“forward-looking statements” from the jury’s review. If Skilling honestly
believed these predictions, then they would not be actionable.32 However, if
Skilling did not honestly believe them, then they could fall within the class of
statements the Court identified in Virginia Bankshares as potentially actionable
in the sense that they implicitly conveyed information about “the subject matter
of the reason or belief expressed.” See Va. Bankshares, 501 U.S. at 1092. Thus,
the jury could conclude that such statements were actionable statements of
material fact. Finally, as we have stated, the jury did not improperly consider
statements that amounted to immaterial puffery as a matter of law.
Accordingly, because of the essential similarity of the proposed and given
instructions, and because the latter accurately explained materiality, we
conclude that the district court’s refusal to give Skilling’s supplemental
instruction did not “seriously impair [his] ability to present a defense,” Pettigrew,
77 F.3d at 1510, and that the court therefore did not abuse its discretion.33
31
Notably, in his brief, Skilling fails to point to any statements purportedly rendered
immaterial as facts already known to the market.
32
The court addressed “forward-looking statements” in its instruction on falsity. The
court instructed the jury that “a statement predicting future events concerning Enron or its
stock”—i.e. a forward-looking statement—can be considered untrue only if the government
“proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did not believe the statement when he
made it, or the defendant knowingly concealed adverse, material information when he made
the statement.” Moreover, the instruction explained that “[a] prediction is not untrue however,
simply because it turns out to be wrong.”
33
Although not a challenge to the jury instructions, Skilling also questions the
materiality of the statements underlying his convictions on securities fraud counts 23 and 24,
regarding statements that he made at the January 25, 2001 analyst conference and on the
37
No. 06-20885
C. Secret Side Deals
Skilling claims that the district court erred in refusing to accept his
proposed jury instruction regarding secret side deals. He has waived this
objection to the jury instructions, however, because he proposed the side-deal
instruction after the mandatory deadline for filing instructions.
Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 30 states that “[a]ny party may
request . . . that the court instruct the jury on the law,” but such a request “must
be made at the close of the evidence or at any earlier time that the court
reasonably sets.” FED. R. CRIM. P. 30(a). Rule 30 is a “mandatory rule,” and a
“condition precedent to the application of Rule 30 is that the requested
instructions be presented to the Judge in timely fashion.” United States v.
Mendoza, 473 F.2d 697, 700 (5th Cir. 1973). “[F]ailure to object to jury
instructions waives the objection.” United States v. Swanson, 572 F.2d 523, 528
(5th Cir. 1978).
Here, the court ordered both parties to file proposed instructions by March
31, 2006. Skilling did not include the side-deal instruction with the other
instructions he filed on March 31. Instead, he filed it on May 10. At a jury
instruction conference later that day, the court noted that it had received the
side-deal instruction “a few hours ago,” and rejected it.34 Because Skilling failed
March 23, 2001 analyst call. He argues that the jury improperly convicted him for statements
that were “immaterial as a matter of law.” For the reasons stated in this subsection regarding
the appropriateness of the jury instructions on materiality, however, we find Skilling’s
challenge to lack merit and reject his assignment of error.
34
Skilling reasons that he did not waive his objection because he submitted the side-
deal instruction before two jury instruction conferences that constituted an “ongoing dialogue
concerning jury instructions.” Although correct at a high level of generality, this argument
misses the point. The ongoing dialogue to which Skilling refers involved the parties’ responses
and modifications to the original instructions required to be filed by March 31. Because he
filed no instruction relating to side deals by that date, Skilling’s untimely side-deal instruction
was not properly part of the ongoing dialogue.
38
No. 06-20885
to submit the side-deal instruction to the district court by the deadline, he has
waived his objection to the court’s refusal to give that instruction.
D. Good-Faith Reliance
In his final jury instruction challenge, Skilling claims that the district
court inadequately instructed the jury regarding good-faith reliance35 and
improperly refused to accept his proposed supplemental instruction on this
topic.36 Skilling argues that the court’s instruction confused the jury in
35
The district court’s four-paragraph good-faith reliance instruction stated,
Good faith is a complete defense to the charges of conspiracy, securities
fraud, and wire fraud contained in the indictment since good faith on the part
of a defendant is inconsistent with intent to defraud or willfulness which is an
essential part of the charges. The burden of proof is not on the defendants to
prove their good faith since they have no burden to prove anything. The
government must establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendants
acted with specific intent to defraud as charged in the indictment.
One who expresses an opinion honestly held by him, or a belief honestly
entertained by him, is not chargeable with fraudulent intent even though his
opinion or his belief is mistaken; and, similarly, evidence that establishes only
that a person made a mistake in judgment or an error in management, or was
careless, does not establish fraudulent intent.
On the other hand, an honest belief on the part of a defendant that a
particular business venture was sound and would ultimately succeed would not,
in and of itself, constitute “good faith” as used in these instructions if, in
carrying out the venture, a defendant knowingly made false or fraudulent
representations to others with the specific intent to deceive them.
Reliance on the advice of an accountant or attorney may constitute good
faith. To decide whether such reliance was in good faith, you may consider
whether the defendant relied on a competent accountant or attorney concerning
the material fact allegedly omitted or misrepresented, whether the accountant
or attorney had all the relevant facts known to the defendant at the time,
whether the defendant received an opinion from the accountant or attorney,
whether the defendant believed that the advice was given in good faith, and
whether the defendant reasonably followed the advice.
36
The proposed instruction stated,
Reliance on the advice of attorneys—whether employed by Enron or
working for outside law firms and hired by Enron—may constitute good faith.
To decide whether such reliance was in good faith, you may consider whether
Mr. Skilling, Mr. Lay, or Enron sought the advice of a competent attorney
concerning the conduct at issue in this case, whether Mr. Skilling or Mr. Lay
39
No. 06-20885
suggesting that a defendant may rely in good faith on the advice of counsel,
because a jury could conceivably reason by negative implication that a defendant
may not rely on subordinates who in turn rely on counsel. He contends that his
supplemental instruction was necessary to make it plain that he could rely on
subordinates to vet transactions instead of having to seek legal advice himself.
Such confusion was highly unlikely. The district court’s comprehensive
good-faith reliance charge correctly and thoroughly explained the law and
adequately instructed the jury. In its instruction, the four paragraphs of which
are properly read in the conjunctive, the court first explained to the jury the
general “complete defense” of good faith, stating, inter alia, that “[o]ne who
expresses an opinion honestly held by him, or a belief honestly entertained by
him, is not chargeable with fraudulent intent even though his opinion is
erroneous or his belief is mistaken . . . .” The court then instructed the jury that
“[r]eliance on the advice of an accountant or attorney may constitute good faith.”
The language of the latter instruction did not say or imply that only such
reliance constitutes good faith. Rather, it offered a specific example of one type
of reliance that falls within the ambit of good-faith reliance.
If, as Skilling argues, he relied in good faith upon subordinates who in
turn relied upon counsel, Skilling would have honestly held the opinion he had
expressed, even though he was mistaken. This clearly falls within the definition
of good faith from the district court’s jury instruction. The likelihood of jury
reasonably believed that the attorney had received all the relevant facts
available at the time, whether Mr. Skilling or Mr. Lay received an opinion from
the attorney or were told or could reasonably assume legal counsel had approved
the transaction, whether Mr. Skilling or Mr. Lay believed the opinion was given
in good faith, and whether Mr. Skilling or Mr. Lay reasonably followed the
opinion given.
A defendant is not required personally to provide information to a
company’s attorney. It is sufficient that a defendant reasonably believed that
a reliable and competent officer or employee of the company provided to the
attorney the relevant facts known about a given topic at that time.
40
No. 06-20885
confusion was therefore minimal, and the instruction certainly did not “seriously
impair [Skilling’s] ability to present a defense.” See Pettigrew, 77 F.3d at 1510.
Thus, we reject Skilling’s challenge.
V. Jury Prejudice
In his opening brief, Skilling makes two venue arguments.37 First, he
contends that the community’s acrimony was so vitriolic that we should presume
that it was impossible for him to receive a fair trial in Houston. Second, he
asserts that actual prejudice contaminated the jury box.
We review de novo whether presumed prejudice tainted a trial, and this
review includes conducting “an independent evaluation of the facts.” United
States v. Williams, 523 F.2d 1203, 1208 (5th Cir. 1975); see also United States v.
McVeigh, 153 F.3d 1166, 1179 (10th Cir. 1998). In reviewing actual prejudice,
however, we afford greater deference to the district court, because “[t]he
determination of whether the seated jury could remain impartial in the face of
negative pretrial publicity, and the measures that may be taken to ensure such
impartiality, lay squarely within the domain of the trial court.” McVeigh, 153
F.3d at 1179. Consequently, we “review[] the district court’s ruling on jury
impartiality for manifest abuse of discretion.” United States v. Wharton, 320
F.3d 526, 535 (5th Cir. 2003) (internal quotation marks omitted).
It would not have been imprudent for the court to have granted Skilling’s
transfer motion. The issue before us, however, is whether the court committed
reversible error. It did not. Skilling has waived most of his argument by failing
to challenge jurors for cause during voir dire. In fact, of the twelve jurors who
sat on the jury, Skilling had objected for cause to only one, and he did not
37
In his reply brief, Skilling adds an argument that publicity during the trial also
affected the jury. Skilling appears not to have raised that contention as a distinct legal claim
in his initial brief, and it is arguably waived. See, e.g., Cinel v. Connick, 15 F.3d 1338, 1345
(5th Cir. 1994). We need not reach that question, however, because even after considering the
additional material, our opinion is no different.
41
No. 06-20885
challenge any of the alternate jurors for cause. Therefore, despite our agreement
with Skilling that we can presume prejudice in this case, the government
rebutted any presumed prejudice, and Skilling has not satisfied his burden as
to actual prejudice.
A. Presumed Prejudice
“A defendant is entitled to a fair trial by an impartial jury which will
render its verdict based upon the evidence and arguments presented in court
without being influenced by outside, irrelevant sources.” United States v.
Chagra, 669 F.2d 241, 249 (5th Cir. 1982), abrogated in part on other grounds
by Garrett v. United States, 471 U.S. 773 (1985). To satisfy this constitutional
guarantee, veniremembers are not required to be wholly ignorant of a case’s
facts; instead, “‘[i]t is sufficient if the juror can lay aside his impression or
opinion and render a verdict based upon the evidence presented in court.’” Id.
(quoting Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 723 (1961)).
If “an appellant can demonstrate that prejudicial, inflammatory publicity
about his case so saturated the community from which his jury was drawn as to
render it virtually impossible to obtain an impartial jury,” then “[p]roof of such
poisonous publicity raises a presumption that appellant’s jury was prejudiced,
relieving him of the obligation to establish actual prejudice by a juror in his
case.” Id. at 250. Importantly, “[t]his presumption is rebuttable . . . and the
government may demonstrate from the voir dire that an impartial jury was
actually impanelled in appellant’s case. If the government succeeds in doing so,
the conviction will stand despite appellant’s showing of adverse pretrial
publicity.” Id. (citations omitted).38
38
Even if a defendant cannot meet the higher burden for finding presumed prejudice,
it is possible for the defendant to “raise[] a significant possibility of prejudice” such that the
district court’s voir dire is subject to additional scrutiny. Chagra, 669 F.2d at 250 (internal
quotation marks omitted). But, “‘[b]ecause the obligation to impanel an impartial jury lies in
the first instance with the trial judge, and because he must rely largely on his immediate
42
No. 06-20885
Presumed prejudice “is only rarely applicable,” being “confined to those
instances where the petitioner can demonstrate an extreme situation of
inflammatory pretrial publicity that literally saturated the community in which
his trial was held.” Mayola v. Alabama, 623 F.2d 992, 997 (5th Cir. 1980)
(internal quotation marks and citation omitted). The prejudice also must be
“apart from mere familiarity with the case.” Id. at 999.39
Before conducting voir dire, the district court denied Skilling’s motion to
transfer venue,40 finding that there was inadequate evidence of community
hostility. The court noted that “[u]nlike many of the cases cited by [Skilling], the
facts in this case are neither heinous nor sensational” and that “for the most
part, the reporting appears to have been objective and unemotional,” with a
“largely fact-based tone.” We disagree with that finding and conclude that
Skilling was entitled to a presumption of prejudice.
There was sufficient inflammatory pretrial material to require a finding
of presumed prejudice, especially in light of the immense volume of coverage.41
“Inflammatory” is defined as “tending to cause strong feelings of anger,
indignation, or other type of upset; [or] tending to stir the passions.” BLACK’S
LAW DICTIONARY 794 (8th ed. 2004). Our independent review of the record
perceptions, federal judges have been accorded ample discretion in determining how best to
conduct the voir dire.’” Id. (quoting Rosales-Lopez v. United States, 451 U.S. 182, 188 (1981)
(plurality opinion)).
39
The government questions whether Skilling has waived his Federal Rule of Criminal
Procedure 21(a) venue argument by failing to raise it in his opening brief. If he has, then we
review his venue arguments only against the minimum constitutional baseline, which he did
raise, and not the standard of Rule 21, which would be more favorable to him. See Williams,
523 F.2d at 1209 n.11. Although we are sympathetic to the government’s argument, we need
not reach this issue, because we come to the same result under either standard.
40
A district court should usually hold a transfer motion in abeyance while conducting
voir dire instead of dismissing it at the outset. See Williams, 523 F.2d at 1209 n.10.
41
Skilling cites thousands of relevant local television features and hundreds of
newspaper articlesSSmany of them on the front pageSSabout himself and Enron.
43
No. 06-20885
convinces us that the community bias in the Houston area met this standard.42
Local newspapers ran many personal interest stories in which sympathetic
individuals expressed feelings of anger and betrayal toward Enron. These
stories are hard to characterize as non-inflammatory, even if the stories were
simply reporting the facts. Skilling shows that the Houston Chronicle
(“Chronicle”) alone ran nearly one hundred such stories.
Even the Chronicle’s sports page wrote of Skilling’s guilt as a foregone
conclusion.43 Similarly, the Chronicle’s “Pethouse Pet of the Week” section
mentioned that a pet had “enjoyed watching those Enron jerks being led away
in handcuffs.” These are but a few examples of the Chronicle’s coverage.
Moreover, prejudice was inherent in an alleged co-conspirator’s well-publicized
decision to plead guilty on the eve of trial.44 In these circumstances, even under
typical pretrial publicity precedent, Skilling demonstrated sufficient
inflammatory and pervasive coverage to raise a presumption of prejudice.45
More importantly, the district court apparently did not consider the wider
context. Given that “every claim of potential jury bias due to publicity turns on
42
For instance, there was this statement in a Houston Chronicle news story: “‘I’m livid,
absolutely livid . . . . I have lost my entire friggin’ retirement to these people. They have raped
all of us.’” In the next line, the paper reported that “[f]ormer Chairman Ken Lay received
about $67 million in 2001, while former CEO Jeff Skilling got about $40 million, according to
a bankruptcy court filing Enron released on Monday.”
43
There was, however, a sports-related reason for the sports page to mention Enron,
as the Houston Astros renamed their stadium—previously called Enron Field—to Minute Maid
Park.
44
See United States v. Hawkins, 658 F.2d 279, 284-85 (5th Cir. Unit A Sept. 1981)
(acknowledging the potential prejudicial effect of guilty pleas on remaining defendants).
45
In its ruling, the district court quoted from a Chronicle story that branded Skilling
as the “Ultimate Enron defendant” and detailed how, “[r]ather than lying low, . . . Skilling
keeps making news” such as being “arrested after a drunken scuffle in New York.” The story
also said, after quoting Skilling as protesting that he had “nothing to hide,” that “[w]e”—
presumably the Chronicle staff, although possibly an allusion to the people of Houston—“can’t
wait for the trial.” We do not agree with the district court’s characterization of this story as
having a “fact-based tone.”
44
No. 06-20885
its own facts,” United States v. Beckner, 69 F.3d 1290, 1293 n.3 (5th Cir. 1995),
it was not enough for the court merely to assess the tone of the news reporting.46
The evaluation of the volume and nature of reporting is merely a proxy for the
real inquiry: whether there could be a “fair trial by an impartial jury” that was
not “influenced by outside, irrelevant sources.” Chagra, 669 F.2d at 249.
The district court seemed to overlook that the prejudice came from more
than just pretrial media publicity, but also from the sheer number of victims.
Thousands of Enron employees in Houston lost their jobs, and many saw their
401(k) accounts wiped out. As happens, moreover, in an interconnected
economy, Enron’s demise spilled over into other industries. Accounting firms
that serviced Enron’s books had less work, hotels had more open rooms,
restaurants sold fewer meals, and so on. The collapse of Enron affected
countless people in the Houston area, and the district court failed to account for
any of this non-media prejudice.47
Precedent also cuts in favor of Skilling. Unsurprisingly (given the
strictness of the test for presumed prejudice), there are more cases in which the
test has not been satisfied than in which it has, but when we look at the reasons
why the test was not satisfied, this case is distinguishable. For instance, in Hale
v. United States, 435 F.2d 737, 748 (5th Cir. 1970), we focused, inter alia, on the
lack of “editorials or cartoons denounc[ing]” the defendant. Here, by contrast,
there were several editorial cartoons condemning Skilling, one even going so far
as to blame him for a supposed recession.
46
There is a need to determine whether the reporting was “straightforward [and]
unemotional” or a “long harangue condemning [the defendant].” Chagra, 669 F.2d at 251.
47
Skilling offered opinion polls suggesting that one in three Houston citizens “personally
kn[e]w” someone harmed by what happened at Enron. The district court rejected these polls,
noting that “courts have commonly rejected such polls as unpersuasive in favor of effective voir
dire as a preferable way to ferret out any bias.” But that is the point: we evaluate the quality
of the voir dire because Skilling established a presumption of prejudice.
45
No. 06-20885
Likewise, in Calley v. Callaway, 519 F.2d 184, 206 (5th Cir. 1975) (en
banc), we noted that there was evidence of “considerable sympathy” for the
defendant, a soldier accused of participating in the My Lai Massacre during the
Vietnam War. There was little to no evidence of “considerable sympathy” for
Skilling. We also noted in Calley that there was a “long period of time between
the peak of the publicity and the beginning of the trial.” Id. at 208. Here, the
publicity remained intense throughout. In United States v. Capo, 595 F.2d 1086,
1091 (5th Cir. 1979), we put weight on the fact that the trial was held “some
distance” from where the crime occurred, about one hundred miles. By contrast,
Skilling’s trial happened about six blocks from Enron’s former headquarters.
In sum, given the unique circumstances of this case, the pervasive
community bias against those who oversaw Enron’s collapse, and the
inflammatory pretrial publicity in the Houston area, Skilling was entitled to a
presumption of prejudice.
B. Whether the District Court Empaneled an Impartial Jury
Although there is sufficient evidence here to raise a presumption of
prejudice, the “presumption is rebuttable, . . . and the government may
demonstrate from the voir dire that an impartial jury was actually impanelled
in appellant’s case. If the government succeeds in doing so, the conviction will
stand . . . .” Chagra, 669 F.2d at 250 (citation omitted). An effective voir dire
generally is a strong disinfectant of community prejudice,48 but it is especially
important in cases such as this one with a great deal of prejudice.49
48
See Calley, 519 F.2d at 209 n.45 (“There has been a greater willingness to uphold a
trial court’s determination that jurors were capable of rendering an impartial verdict where
that conclusion was reached after deliberate, searching, and thorough voir dire.”).
49
A district court has “broad discretion” in conducting voir dire, and
[t]he court’s discretion extends both to the decision whether to propound
questions proffered by counsel and whether jurors should be questioned
collectively or individually out of the presence of other jurors. This broad
46
No. 06-20885
Non-exhaustive factors we consider in determining the adequacy of voir
dire include (1) the percentage of the entire pool of veniremembers who
evidenced bias, Irvin, 366 U.S. at 727 (noting that almost 90% of the venire was
biased); (2) whether the court questioned the veniremembers individually, see,
e.g., Capo, 595 F.2d at 1091; (3) whether the court questioned the
veniremembers thoroughly concerning their knowledge of the circumstances
surrounding the alleged crime, id.; (4) whether the court asked each
veniremember specifically about the nature and extent of any preconceived
notions, id.; (5) whether the court asked each veniremember about his or her
capability to render an impartial verdict, id.; (6) the length of time the process
took, id. at 1092 (noting that the voir dire took “an arduous 10 day[s]”);
(7) whether the court examined the veniremembers outside the presence of other
veniremembers (although that is not per se necessary), United States v. Davis,
583 F.2d 190, 197-98 (5th Cir. 1978); (8) whether the attorneys had “the
opportunity to recommend further inquiries,” Chagra, 669 F.2d at 254;50 and
(9) whether the “judge[] himself inquired into the prospective [jurors’] exposure
to publicity and ability to render a fair and impartial verdict,” Calley, 519 F.2d
at 209.
Finally, if “the nature of the publicity as a whole raises a significant
discretion, however, is limited by the requirements of due process, and the
reviewing court must independently evaluate the voir dire testimony of
empanelled jurors, as well as the record as a whole, and determine whether the
method of voir dire adopted by the district court is capable of giving reasonable
assurance that prejudice would be discovered if present. The district court’s
decision will not be lightly overturned.
Hawkins, 658 F.2d at 283 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted); see also Mu’Min
v. Virginia, 500 U.S. 415, 427 (1991).
50
See also Calley, 519 F.2d at 209 (“[M]ore importantly, both defense counsel and the
prosecution were allowed almost unlimited freedom to inquire into the court members’
attitudes, perceptions, backgrounds and the nature and extent of their exposure to pretrial
publicity.”).
47
No. 06-20885
possibility of prejudice, and a juror acknowledges some exposure to that
publicity, more than the abbreviated questioning . . . is necessary,” because a
“juror is poorly placed to make a determination as to his own impartiality.
Instead, the trial court should make this determination.” United States v.
Hawkins, 658 F.2d 279, 285 (5th Cir. Unit A Sept. 1981) (internal quotation
marks omitted).
The district court here conducted an exemplary voir dire. After
prescreening veniremembers based upon their responses to a fourteen-page
questionnaire, the parties mutually agreed to excuse 119 of them.51 The court
summoned the remaining veniremembers and explained the importance of an
impartial jury. The court then asked whether “any of you have doubts about
your ability to conscientiously and fairly follow these very important rules.” Two
veniremembers indicated they could not be fair, and the court called them to the
bench and individually examined them, then excused them for cause.
Before questioning individual veniremembers, the court again emphasized
that the case was not about the collapse of Enron and that serving as a juror was
not about looking “to right a wrong or to provide remedies for those who suffered
from the collapse of Enron.” The court admonished the jurors that they could
not “seek vengeance against Enron’s former officers because of some wrongdoing
they believe Enron or its officers may have committed,” and that anyone who has
such an attitude cannot “be a fair and impartial juror.” The court asked
veniremembers whether they knew anyone involved in the case, going through
a lengthy list. If a prospective juror had any connection, the court stopped and
made inquiries as to the nature of the relationship. The court also warned the
prospective jurors that they should not necessarily trust what they read in the
newspapers.
51
Contrary to Skilling’s argument, it is inaccurate to say that voir dire took only one
day. We consider the extensive questionnaire in assessing the quality of voir dire as a whole.
48
No. 06-20885
After dividing the venire into subgroups, the court asked each
veniremember individually about various answers in his or her questionnaire.
It asked each whether he or she remembered articles or television broadcasts
pertaining to the trial. The attorneys then had the opportunity to request
follow-up questions, and nearly every time the court permitted the attorneys to
ask questions directly.52 The court made credibility determinations; it was
thorough, requiring more than just the veniremembers’ statements that he or
she could be fair.
Because the court conducted a proper and thorough voir dire, the question
is whether, notwithstanding this searching voir dire, the government failed to
meet its burden to show that the court did not actually empanel a juror who was
unconstitutionally prejudiced. See Chagra, 669 F.2d at 250. After examining
the record, we conclude that the government has met its burden. Although
Skilling goes to great lengths to argue prejudice, during voir dire he failed to
challenge for cause all but one of the jurors who actually sat. Of the alternate
jurors, Skilling challenged none, so he cannot complain on appeal.53
52
Twice the district court limited the ability of Lay’s attorney to question jurors directly.
Although that is technically “more than once,” as Skilling characterized it, Skilling’s contention
is misleading. Counsel for the defendants directly asked questions of twenty-seven
veniremembers.
53
See Dawson v. Wal-Mart Stores, 978 F.2d 205, 208-09 (5th Cir. 1992) (“Dawson
asserts that three members of the jury panel had a close relationship with defense counsel and
were therefore unable to render an impartial verdict. However, Dawson’s counsel did not
challenge any of the three persons for cause, nor did he use any of his peremptory challenges
to strike them. The trial transcript reveals that Dawson was given a fair opportunity to
question each juror on voir dire and to remove them from the venire, but that he chose to
exercise his challenges on others. When the basis for challenge to a juror is timely shown, the
failure to object constitutes a waiver of the right to attack the composition of the jury.”); see
also Marks v. Shell Oil Co., 895 F.2d 1128, 1129-30 (6th Cir. 1990) (“Marks waived this ground
for challenging Kenney’s fitness for jury service by failing to raise it at voir dire. . . . Although
Marks did challenge Kenney as a juror for cause, Marks’s challenge was based on Kenney’s
past employment in the oil business, alleging that this past employment would bias Kenney.
Marks never suggested that Kenney could not be an impartial juror because of any concerns
he had over the effect that his time in jury service would have on his business. This failure
49
No. 06-20885
The only juror who sat that Skilling had challenged for cause was Juror
11, who worked with a former Enron employee who had lost 401(k) money.
Juror 11, however, never spoke with that person about Enron’s management,
and he said he “would have no problem” telling his co-worker that the
government did not prove its case, resulting in acquittal, if that were to happen
at trial.
True, Juror 11 also felt that Lay was “greedy” and that CEOs “from Billy
Sol Estes to T. Boone Pickens” were greedy, looking “to meet the bottom line,”
that CEOs in general “walk a line that stretches sometimes the legality of
something,” and that “I’m not going to say that they’re all crooks, but, you
cannot stem from any lack of notice to Marks of Kenney’s concerns because they were discussed
in full during the voir dire. Marks cannot argue on appeal facts that she was able, but chose
not, to raise below.”); United States v. Petary, 857 F.2d 458, 462 (8th Cir. 1988) (“Six next
argues that the district court erred in denying his motion for change of venue because of
prejudicial pre-trial publicity. Six waived any objection by failing to question any juror about
his or her knowledge of this case during voir dire.”); Robinson v. Monsanto Co., 758 F.2d 331,
335 (8th Cir. 1985) (“[T]he right to challenge a juror is waived by failure to object at the time
the jury is empaneled if the basis for objection might have been discovered during voir dire.”);
cf. United States v. Musquiz, 45 F.3d 927, 931 (5th Cir. 1995) (“By withdrawing the challenge
[to a member of the venire], Gatewood waived his objection.”).
Because we presume prejudice in this case, it is the government’s burden to show that
the district court empaneled an impartial jury. It thus could be argued that traditional waiver
rules do not apply; we disagree, because the district court expressly asked Skilling whether he
sought to challenge each individual veniremember, and he said he did not. The government
implicitly argued that it had met its burden, and Skilling, by explicitly saying there was no
challenge, agreed. If he had objected, the government would have had the opportunity to
respond, and an objection would have allowed the court to correct any possible errors before
expending substantial judicial resources. Cf. United States v. Calverley, 37 F.3d 160, 162 (5th
Cir. 1994) (en banc) (“One of the most familiar procedural rubrics in the administration of
justice is the rule that the failure of a litigant to assert a right in the trial court likely will
result in its forfeiture.”).
By agreeing with the court and government that he did not have any challenges for
cause, Skilling “intentional[ly] relinquish[ed] or abandon[ed] a known right,” United States v.
Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 733 (1993) (internal quotation marks omitted), so his argument is waived.
Were it otherwise, a defendant in a presumed-prejudice case could keep an ace up his or her
appellate sleeve by acquiescing to jurors at trial and then arguing error on appeal.
50
No. 06-20885
know . . . .”54 But he had “no idea” whether Skilling had “crossed that line,” and
he “didn’t say that” every CEO is probably a crook. He also asserted that he
could be fair and require the government to prove its case, that he did not
believe everything he read in the paper, that he did not “get into the details” of
the Enron coverage, that he did not watch television, and that Enron was “old
news.”
Juror 11 likewise expounded upon his view that “greedy” did “not
necessarily” equate to “illegal,” agreeing that “greed and ambition are the same
thing.” He even asserted that he believed the defendants “earned their salaries,”
but also that some “bonuses and stuff” are “obscene” in his “opinion.” He stated
that CEOs “normally stretch” because “it’s all a new frontier,” and CEOs “try[]
to satisfy their shareholders . . . .” Relatedly, he explained that he did not think
he could be convinced Lay was not greedy, because “anybody that takes home the
salaries and the bonuses and stuff that they have, they got to be greedy, or they
wouldn’t do that.”
The court denied the motion to disqualify for cause, explaining, “I looked
him in the eye and I’ve heard all his questions and the motion is denied.” The
court observed Juror 11’s demeanor, listened to his answers, and believed he
would make the government prove its case. Although Juror 11 spoke of “greed”
(which he equated with ambition) and “stretch[ing]” the law, he was forthright
that he had no view as to Skilling’s guilt. He also evinced a healthy skepticism
of the news.
The express finding that Juror 11 was fair is not reversible error, meaning
that the government has met its burden of demonstrating the impartiality of the
54
It is uncertain from the transcript whether he stated “you know” with the inflection
of “come on, they are obviously guilty” or instead with a tone suggesting that the
veniremember was searching his mind to explain what he meant.
51
No. 06-20885
empaneled jury.55 For the same reasons, Skilling cannot show that any juror
who actually sat was prejudiced against him.56
In sum, although Skilling demonstrated sufficient community bias to raise
a presumption of prejudice, the district court’s voir dire more than mitigated any
effects of this prejudice. The government met its burden of showing that the
actual jury that convicted Skilling was impartial. Accordingly, we decline to
reverse Skilling’s convictions on this basis.
VI. Prosecutorial Misconduct
Skilling contends that the government deprived him of the ability to
present favorable evidence, thereby unconstitutionally abusing its prosecutorial
55
In Mayola, 623 F.2d at 1001, we stated that the government can rebut a presumption
of prejudice, but that “[o]f course, it could not be [rebutted] merely by the jurors’ assurance on
voir dire of their own impartiality”; we added that “[o]n the other hand, a showing that none
of the twelve jurors impanelled had ever been exposed, first or second hand, to the
inflammatory publicity, would probably suffice to negate the presumption of prejudice flowing
from that publicity.” Id. We did not suggest, however, that in all cases of presumed prejudice,
the only way for the government to rebut the presumption is by showing that none of the
jurors had any knowledge whatsoever of any publicity.
56
In an attempt to avoid this result, Skilling points to a number of statements from
veniremembers who were not selected as jurors. Skilling argues that the statements are
relevant, because it is erroneous “to force a party to exhaust his peremptory challenges on
persons who should be excused for cause.” United States v. Dozier, 672 F.2d 531, 547 (5th Cir.
1982) (internal quotation marks omitted).
Dozier, however, no longer represents the law of this circuit. Although we are bound
by a prior panel’s decision unless the court en banc has reversed it or there has been
intervening Supreme Court precedent, see, e.g., Burlington N. R.R. v. Bhd. of Maint. of Way
Employees, 961 F.2d 86, 89 (5th Cir. 1992), here there is a later Supreme Court decision. As
we recognized in Wharton, 320 F.3d at 535, “[a] district court’s erroneous refusal to grant a
defendant’s challenge for cause is only grounds for reversal if the defendant establishes that
the jury which actually sat to decide his guilt or innocence was not impartial.” For that
proposition, we cited United States v. Martinez-Salazar, 528 U.S. 304, 313-18 (2000), which
held that “a defendant’s exercise of peremptory challenges pursuant to Rule 24(b) is not denied
or impaired when the defendant chooses to use a peremptory challenge to remove a juror who
should have been excused for cause,” id. at 317. Thus, the Wharton panel’s construction of
Martinez-Salazar is the law of the circuit. Because the only juror whom Skilling even objected
to for cause was Juror 11, and because the court did not err in denying Skilling’s objection to
that person, we need not consider whether the court erred in denying some of Skilling’s other
objections for cause.
52
No. 06-20885
powers. In particular, Skilling argues that the government violated his Sixth
Amendment right to present witnesses on his behalf and infringed on his Fifth
Amendment right to be free from governmental interference when preparing his
defense.
Skilling requested interviews from hundreds of individuals involved in
some way with Enron, but few agreed even to meet with him. In April 2005, he
sent letters to 144 potential witnesses requesting meetings, but only two
accepted the invitation. In May 2005, he sent 138 more letters, but only two
more agreed. The district court then sent letters to thirty-eight potential
witnesses to inform them that the government would not retaliate against them
if they cooperated with Skilling.57 Even after the district court sent these letters,
57
The district court sent a letter to counsel for a number of potential witnesses that the
prosecution and defense had jointly identified, informing counsel that
[the court has] been informed by the government that if you wish to speak with
defense counsel: (i) you need not seek permission from the government or notify
them about the meetings; (ii) you have the government’s consent to meet with
the defense to the extent such consent is required by any agreement you may
have with the government; (iii) you are free to discuss whatever you choose to
discuss, whether or not you have any agreement with the government limiting
what information may be shared with third parties; and (iv) you are free to
agree to testify on defendants’ behalf at trial.
The district court concluded,
[f]inally, if you believe it would help you decide whether to meet with defense
counsel or testify on their behalf at trial, I am willing to meet with you, along
with representatives of all parties, to address any concerns about speaking to
the defense in this case.
In conjunction with the letters, the district court issued an order, dated May 27, 2005, to
address any of the witnesses’ concerns that the government would retaliate against those that
cooperated with Skilling. The order provided that
1. All counsel in a criminal proceeding may seek to contact and interview
witnesses before trial.
2. Whether or not a witness wishes to talk to the attorneys or
representatives of either party in this case is entirely up to the witness.
3. Should a witness decide to provide information or assistance to the
defense, the government will not view the witness’s decision to cooperate
with defense counsel as any lack of cooperation with the government,
and the government will not use such cooperation as a basis for decisions
53
No. 06-20885
however, only one more witness came forward. Skilling asserts that
prosecutorial misconduct was the catalyst for the witnesses’ decisions not to
assist in his defense.
The district court considered these allegations, conducted an evidentiary
hearing into some of the more troubling ones, and concluded, as a factual matter,
that Skilling had not proven prosecutorial misconduct. The district court found
that Skilling did not demonstrate substantial interference with any witness’s
choice to testify and that the government did not engage in any practice that
denied Skilling a fair trial. Our review of the record convinces us that the
district court did not commit clear error. Moreover, the district court’s letter to
the potential witnesses mitigated any possible prejudice.58
Before addressing Skilling’s allegations of prosecutorial intimidation of
witnesses, however, we turn briefly to Skilling’s argument that “serious legal
error” tainted the court’s ruling based on the court’s discussion of the witnesses’
Fifth Amendment rights. The district court stated during a pretrial hearing that
there was a “reasonable likelihood” that the witnesses did not cooperate with
Skilling because the witnesses were guilty of related crimes and wished to assert
their Fifth Amendment privilege to avoid incriminating themselves.59 Although
regarding prosecution.
58
Although the district court’s letter mitigated the potential prejudice Skilling may
have suffered, it did not necessarily render any misconduct per se harmless. That is, the letter
is relevant to whether any misconduct was harmless, but it alone is not sufficient.
If the government’s conduct is egregiously threatening, would-be witnesses may not
believe that it is worth taking the chance of crossing prosecutors, regardless of what a well-
meaning judge says in a letter. Such a letter, however, is circumstantial evidence that tends
to reinforce the court’s determination that prosecutorial misconduct did not drive the decision
of potential witnesses to shun the defendant. When the court sends a letter of this sort, the
convicted party’s burden on appeal is steeper, but it is not insurmountable.
59
The court stated that “[t]he primary reason a person asserts a Fifth Amendment
privilege is because the person is guilty of criminal conduct and wants to avoid incriminating
himself by testifying,” and that “[g]iven the number of people who have pleaded guilty and
have been found guilty for perpetrating Enron-related crimes . . . there is a reasonable
54
No. 06-20885
the district court did not make this statement during the witnesses’ trials or in
the presence of a jury, it is still troubling. In Carter v. Kentucky, 450 U.S. 288
(1981), the Supreme Court recognized that a witness may have many reasons,
unrelated to guilt or innocence, for declining to testify:
It is not every one who can safely venture on the witness
stand though entirely innocent of the charge against him. Excessive
timidity, nervousness when facing others and attempting to explain
transactions of a suspicious character, and offences charged against
him, will often confuse and embarrass him to such a degree as to
increase rather than remove prejudices against him. It is not every
one, however honest, who would, therefore, willingly be placed on
the witness stand.
Other reasons include the fear of impeachment by prior
convictions . . . or by other damaging information not necessarily
relevant to the charge being tried, and reluctance to incriminate
others whom [defendants] either love or fear.
Id. at 300 n.15 (alteration in original) (internal quotation marks and citations
omitted). Skilling fails to demonstrate reversible error, however, because he did
not provide any evidence that the district court’s statement was “sufficiently
egregious in nature and degree so as to deprive [Skilling] of a fair trial.” See
United States v. Weddell, 800 F.2d 1404, 1411 (5th Cir. 1986).
The Supreme Court has recognized that the Constitution entitles a
criminal defendant to a fair trial, not a perfect one, and has emphatically
rejected automatic reversal without regard to whether the error was harmless
beyond a reasonable doubt. See United States v. Hasting, 461 U.S. 499, 508-09
(1983). The district court’s statement that witnesses may have asserted their
privilege against self-incrimination due to their guilt did not result in a blanket
dismissal of Skilling’s arguments or a denial of his right to be heard. As
discussed below, the district court still examined Skilling’s proffered evidence of
likelihood that the proposed witnesses have asserted their Fifth Amendment privilege for this
reason, and not because of fear of government reprisals if they testified.”
55
No. 06-20885
misconduct when deciding whether to grant an evidentiary hearing, held a
hearing on the two most persuasive allegations of misconduct, and, out of an
abundance of caution, issued letters to potential witnesses encouraging them to
speak with the defense. These actions demonstrate that even if the district court
erred in ruminating about the witnesses’ invocations of their Fifth Amendment
rights, that error was harmless. Accordingly, we find no evidence that the
district court’s statement deprived Skilling of a fair trial.
Having disposed of Skilling’s argument regarding the district court’s
statement about the witnesses’ Fifth Amendment rights, we now turn to
Skilling’s allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. In particular, Skilling
contends that the district court improperly refused to consider various hearsay
declarations and that plea agreements impermissibly restricted witnesses from
cooperating with him. Skilling also makes general allegations of witness
intimidation and points to specific instances where the government’s alleged
misconduct dissuaded witnesses from testifying.
“The Sixth Amendment guarantees a criminal defendant the right to
present witnesses to establish his defense without fear of retaliation against the
witness by the government,” and “the Fifth Amendment protects the defendant
from improper governmental interference with his defense.” United States v.
Bieganowski, 313 F.3d 264, 291 (5th Cir. 2002) (internal quotation marks and
citations omitted). “[A]s a general rule, ‘[w]itnesses . . . to a crime are the
property of neither the prosecution nor the defense. Both sides have an equal
right, and should have an equal opportunity, to interview them.’” United States
v. Soape, 169 F.3d 257, 270 (5th Cir. 1999) (quoting Gregory v. United States, 369
F.2d 185, 188 (D.C. Cir. 1966)) (second alteration in original). Of course, “[n]o
right of a defendant is violated when a potential witness freely chooses not to
talk [to defense counsel].” In re United States, 878 F.2d 153, 157 (5th Cir. 1989).
56
No. 06-20885
We have explained that to demonstrate governmental infringement on
these Sixth Amendment rights, “the defendant must show that the government’s
conduct interfered substantially with a witness’s free and unhampered choice to
testify.” United States v. Thompson, 130 F.3d 676, 686 (5th Cir. 1997) (internal
quotation marks omitted). “Whether a defendant has made a showing of
substantial interference is a fact question [that we review] for clear error.”
Bieganowski, 313 F.3d at 291. Violations of these rights are subject to a
harmless error analysis, so we will not reverse unless “the prosecutor’s conduct
was sufficiently egregious in nature and degree so as to deprive [the defendant]
of a fair trial.” See Weddell, 800 F.2d at 1411.
A. Hearsay Declarations
Skilling presented hearsay evidence that potential witnesses did not meet
with him because they feared government reprisal. The district court learned
of this evidence third-hand, in affidavits from Skilling’s attorneys, who received
the information from the witnesses’ attorneys, who purportedly conveyed the
views of their clients. On appeal, Skilling argues that the court erred in failing
to credit the hearsay evidence in its conclusion that there was no prosecutorial
misconduct, as Federal Rule of Evidence 804(b)(6) allows hearsay where the
government is responsible for making a witness unavailable.60 Because Skilling
did not present this argument to the district court, we review only for plain
error.61 Therefore, we must ask whether there was error that was plain and
60
Rule 804(b)(6) reads, “The following are not excluded by the hearsay rule if the
declarant is unavailable as a witness: . . . A statement offered against a party that has
engaged or acquiesced in wrongdoing that was intended to, and did, procure the unavailability
of the declarant as a witness.” FED. R. EVID. 804(b)(6).
61
Skilling counters that it was obvious on the face of the declarations he presented that
Rule 804(b)(6) applied, suggesting that he raised this particular argument below. The Federal
Rules of Evidence, however, require a party who complains of the district court’s decision to
exclude evidence to show that “the substance of the evidence was made known to the court by
offer or was apparent from the context within which questions were asked.” FED. R. EVID.
103(a)(2); see United States v. Martinez, 486 F.3d 855, 860-61 (5th Cir. 2007) (finding that an
57
No. 06-20885
affected Skilling’s substantial rights. United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 732-
33 (1993).
Even assuming that the district court erred, that error was not plain.
Under Rule 804(b)(6), Skilling had the burden of showing that the government
was responsible for the unavailability of the declarants. See United States v.
Scott, 284 F.3d 758, 762 (7th Cir. 2002). To meet this burden, Skilling proffered
the hearsay declarations that his attorneys had obtained. The district court
found that these declarations did not meet Skilling’s burden, except for two
declarations of attorneys Wendell Odom (“Odom”) and Robert Sussman
(“Sussman”), who represented several witnesses who had expressed concerns
about what would happen if they met with Skilling’s lawyers. Based on these
declarations, the district court ordered those two attorneys to appear before it
to question them further. That is, the court implicitly considered all of these
declarations in deciding to grant a hearing. In the end, however, the district
court found that the declarations were insufficient for Skilling to meet his
burden of showing that the government was responsible for the witnesses’
unavailability. Skilling does not explain adequately why the district court was
incorrect in this conclusion, especially given that the court did consider the
declarations, and accordingly, he fails to demonstrate plain error. Further, this
court has not resolved whether, to invoke Rule 804(b)(6) properly, a party must
make this evidentiary showing with material independent of the hearsay itself.
issue was preserved when the defendant explained the issue to the district court even though
the defendant made no reference to case law). Skilling never cited Rule 804(b)(6), never
suggested that an exception to the hearsay requirement would allow the court to consider the
declarations, and never formally moved to admit his attorneys’ declarations. Thus, Skilling
did not make “known to the [trial] court the action which he desire[d] the court to take or his
objection to the action of the court and the grounds therefor.” United States v.
Arteaga-Limones, 529 F.2d 1183, 1198 (5th Cir. 1976) (internal quotation marks omitted) (first
alteration in original). Accordingly, we must review the district court’s ruling only for plain
error.
58
No. 06-20885
This is a question of first impression, and there are persuasive arguments for
either position or for a hybrid of the two.62 This question is especially difficult
here given that it was the defense counsel who made the uncorroborated hearsay
declarations. Under such circumstances, any error is not plain.63
As noted above, the district court was particularly cautious regarding the
declarations that it believed might demonstrate prosecutorial misconduct. The
court held an evidentiary hearing regarding alleged threats to Sussman, a
lawyer representing several former Enron employees. At the hearing, Sussman
indicated that a number of factors informed his advice to his clients that they
should not cooperate with Skilling. He acknowledged that the “possibility” that
the government might look “unfavorably” at cooperation was one of them, but he
also expressly testified that the potential for government reprisal was only one
“[a]mong a number of other[]” factors impacting the decision and that there were
“a variety of reasons.” Of particular importance, Sussman testified that the
government had made no explicit or implicit statement that his clients should
not meet with defense counsel. Accordingly, the district court did not clearly err
62
We know of no Fifth Circuit precedent on this question. In fact, only one unpublished
decision, United States v. Nelson, 242 F. App’x 164, 170-71 (5th Cir. 2007), even addresses Rule
804(b)(6).
63
Skilling also argues that the district court should have ordered a full evidentiary
hearing regarding each allegation of misconduct based on these declarations. However, he has
waived that argument for failure to brief it adequately. See FED. R. APP. P. 28(a)(9) (noting
that briefs must include “contentions and the reasons for them, with citations to the
authorities and parts of the record on which the appellant relies” and “a concise statement of
the applicable standard of review”); United States v. Lindell, 881 F.2d 1313, 1325 (5th Cir.
1989) (holding that a party waives an argument that it inadequately briefed). Instead, Skilling
merely argues in his brief that, at the very least, the district court should have held an
evidentiary hearing. Although he cites to several cases from outside of this circuit, he fails to
provide sufficient legal argument for this court to consider his claim. Unbriefed issues include
the following: When is a district court obligated to hold an evidentiary hearing? What is the
standard of review? Are there any relevant Fifth Circuit cases? If the absence of these basic
elements of an appellate argument constitutes waiver in typical cases, waiver applies all the
more where, as here, a party is given leave to file approximately 550 pages of briefing.
59
No. 06-20885
in concluding that the government had not substantially interfered with
Skilling’s ability to interview Sussman’s clients.
Likewise, Skilling claims that the government improperly persuaded
Michael Anderson (“Anderson”), another former Enron employee, not to
cooperate. Prosecutors allegedly did so by having an FBI agent threaten Odom,
Anderson’s lawyer, warning Odom not to talk to Skilling and his lawyers
because “those are bad guys.” Concerned, the district court held an evidentiary
hearing to question Odom.
Although Odom testified that it “might” have been a factor “that the Task
Force might not [have] take[n] kindly” if Anderson cooperated, the testimony,
taken as a whole, amply demonstrates that unlawful intimidation did not drive
Anderson’s decision not to meet with Skilling. Odom, for instance—aside from
not definitively stating that such a concern was even a factor at all—testified
that “[t]here [were] many factors” that he considered in advising his client and
that he did not know whether the “bad guys” statement referred to the
defendants or to their lawyers. He also had no additional firsthand information
about any prosecutorial threats. This evidence supports the district court’s
express finding that the government did not substantially interfere with
Skilling’s ability to interview Anderson.
B. Plea Agreements
Skilling asserts that the government’s plea agreements with Merrill Lynch
and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (“CIBC”) improperly forbade
witnesses from cooperating with his defense. He claims that the agreements
prohibited witness testimony from any employee who would contradict the terms
of the agreement, that the agreements prohibited meetings between the defense
and witnesses out of the presence of the prosecution, and that the agreements
did not permit information-sharing between the defense and employees of
Merrill Lynch or CIBC. None of these alleged errors require reversal.
60
No. 06-20885
Assuming, arguendo, that the plea agreements created some ambiguity,
leading potential witnesses to conclude that the plea agreements forbade their
cooperation with the defense, the district court’s letter to the witnesses clarified
the government’s position and eliminated any potential confusion or
misunderstanding.64 The district court stated that the witnesses—even those
subject to a plea agreement—were free to testify on Skilling’s behalf at trial.
Thus, although the corporations could not take a position contrary to the plea
agreement, their employees, acting in their personal capacities, were free to
testify for the defense. The district court also notified potential witnesses that
they did not need to seek permission from the government or notify it of
meetings with Skilling or his lawyers, and that the district court’s letter
conveyed the government’s consent for the witnesses to meet with the defense
to the extent that any plea agreements required such consent. Finally, the
district court clarified that the potential witnesses were not limited in what
information they shared with the defense. Accordingly, Skilling failed to provide
any evidence that the plea agreements were “sufficiently egregious in nature and
degree so as to deprive [Skilling] of a fair trial,” especially given the manner in
which the district court interpreted and clarified the plea agreements. See
Weddell, 800 F.2d at 1411.
Skilling also argues that some potential witnesses entered into plea
agreements that forbade them from speaking about what they learned from the
government, which these would-be witnesses misconstrued as limits on talking
about any topic they discussed with the government. Skilling reasons that this
confusion evinces unlawful governmental interference. However, the district
court’s letter mitigated any misunderstanding regarding the contours of the plea
64
As is common with plea agreements, the government retained “sole discretion” to
determine whether the agreements were breached. The district court’s letter informed
potential witnesses that the letter was consistent with the government’s position.
61
No. 06-20885
agreements. The district court’s action was sufficient to allay any concern,
especially given that the most natural reading of the agreements is that they
restricted only divulging information learned from the government and did not
ban talking with Skilling altogether.65 Thus, the district court did not err in
finding that the plea agreements themselves did not substantially interfere with
the witnesses’ decisions not to speak with the defense, and the district court’s
letter was sufficient to mitigate any misunderstanding about the plea
agreements such that any remaining influence was harmless. See id. at 1410-11
(defining the harmless error standard).
C. General Allegations of Witness Intimidation
Skilling’s next argument is that the government created “a pervasive
atmosphere of fear for all witnesses associated with Enron by publicly touting
a perpetually ‘ongoing’ grand jury investigation and maintaining a 100-plus
person co-conspirator list.” Skilling cites United States v. Peter Kiewit Sons’ Co.,
655 F. Supp. 73 (D. Colo.), aff’d sub nom. United States v. Carrigan, 804 F.2d
599 (10th Cir. 1986), for support. In Peter Kiewit, “witnesses got the clear
mental impression . . . that the prosecutors preferred that these witnesses not
talk to defense representatives,” and the court ordered the witnesses to submit
to depositions by the defense. Id. at 77-78. That case is distinguishable for
multiple reasons, the most obvious being the party that prevailed in the district
court. There, the district court considered the proffered evidence and found
misconduct, id. at 75-78; the appellate court reviewed that finding for clear error
65
In the district court, Skilling also argued that it was illegal for the government to
require those who entered into an agreement with the government to agree not to reveal what
they learned from the government. Because Skilling did not raise this issue adequately on
appeal, however, we cannot consider it. Skilling’s cursory argument and references to
pleadings in the district court do not preserve the issue. See FED. R. APP. P. 28(a)(9); Lindell,
881 F.2d at 1325.
62
No. 06-20885
in the defendant’s favor, Carrigan, 804 F.2d at 604.66 Here, the district court
found no misconduct, and that finding is also entitled to clear error review, but
this time in the government’s favor.
The district court determined that the best way to counter any concerns
about government retribution was for the court to address those concerns
directly through letters to the potential witnesses. As discussed above, these
letters informed potential witnesses that they could cooperate with Skilling
without reprisal from the government and that the witnesses could speak with
the court if they remained concerned. That is more than sufficient, especially
given the court’s finding that there was no credible evidence of actual unlawful
intimidation.
Moreover, the government is always entitled to investigate and punish
criminal conduct. See United States v. Viera, 839 F.2d 1113, 1115 (5th Cir. 1988)
(en banc). Nothing in the record indicates that the government extended or
enlarged its ongoing investigation to intimidate witnesses. The government
obviously could not use its prosecutorial power to intimidate potential witnesses
into refusing to consult with Skilling, see United States v. Dupre, 117 F.3d 810,
823 (5th Cir. 1997), or to badger them into silence by meritless perjury threats,
see Viera, 839 F.2d at 1115, but there is nothing in the record to suggest that
Skilling did not receive a fair trial because of government intimidation.
Skilling further argues that the fact that so many people chose not to
cooperate with the defense means that the government must have done
something nefarious, because “the proof was in the pudding.” However, Skilling
fails to present any direct evidence of witness intimidation. Thus, United States
v. Hammond, 598 F.2d 1008, 1012 (5th Cir. 1979), which Skilling cites, is not on
66
Although Carrigan involved a petition for a writ of mandamus, meaning that the
court reviewed the district court’s order for a clear abuse of discretion, see 804 F.2d at 602, the
court expressly stated that it “[could not] say that the [district] court’s findings of fact are
clearly erroneous,” id. at 604.
63
No. 06-20885
point, because there the defendant presented direct evidence of witness
intimidation. In that case, an FBI agent actually approached a defense witness
and threatened him with “nothing but trouble” in a different proceeding if he
“continued on” in the defendant’s trial. Id. By contrast, here there is no direct
evidence of witness intimidation. Hammond does not require this court to find
an inference of intimidation arising from the lack of cooperating witnesses, so the
mere fact that many witnesses chose not to cooperate with Skilling does not
prove substantial interference with the witnesses’ free and unhampered choice
to testify. See id. at 1013.
D. Specific Allegations of Witness Intimidation
In addition to the general challenges discussed above, Skilling offers
specific evidence relating to several witnesses. He alleges that the government
contacted these witnesses and implicitly suggested retaliation if they cooperated
with Skilling’s defense.
For example, Skilling points to an email that the government sent to a
lawyer for Rice, a former CEO of EBS who refused to speak to Skilling. Skilling
contends that Andrew Weissmann (“Weismann”), a top prosecutor, emailed one
of Rice’s attorneys, informing him that another of Rice’s attorneys, Dan Cogdell
(“Cogdell”), an experienced defense attorney, was communicating with Skilling’s
attorneys. Weissman suggested that if Cogdell was acting against Rice’s
interest, Rice should “get[] rid of him.”
The government responds that it sent the email because of a potential
conflict of interest between Cogdell and Rice, given that Cogdell represented a
number of Enron-related defendants with arguably divergent interests.
Weissmann offered the court a declaration to that effect, saying that in his
“experience as a prosecutor, it is unusual for one lawyer to represent multiple
targets in an investigation while also representing a cooperating witness.”
Skilling argues that this explanation is merely pretext for an unconstitutional
64
No. 06-20885
threat and that there was no good reason to worry about Cogdell’s
representation. Another of Rice’s attorneys filed a declaration saying that the
government’s communications played no part in Rice’s decision not to meet with
Skilling.
Given the statement from Rice’s lawyer that the email did not affect Rice’s
decision on whether to cooperate with the defense, we cannot conclude that the
email was an improper threat. Even if it was in fact a threat, it was sufficiently
ambiguous that we cannot say confidently that its real purpose was intimidation
as opposed to something more benign.67 Under clear error review, we do not
second-guess the district court’s factual finding in these ambiguous
circumstances.
Skilling also contends that the government threatened Tim Belden
(“Belden”), another former high-level Enron employee, with reprisal if he spoke
with Skilling, even going so far as telling him to take the Fifth Amendment if
called to testify. The evidence Skilling offered, however, was merely a statement
from one of Skilling’s attorneys that supposedly represented what one of
Belden’s attorneys had said. As explained above, the court did not err in failing
to credit those hearsay declarations. Moreover, Belden’s attorney expressly
denied to the court that the government had threatened Belden. All of this, in
conjunction with the court’s order and letter to the witnesses, is sufficient to
show that the court’s finding of no prosecutorial misconduct was not clearly
erroneous.68
67
Weissmann would have done well to have brought the issue to the court’s attention
instead of emailing Rice’s lawyer.
68
Skilling contends that additional evidence in the supplemental record shows that the
government ordered Belden not to contact any of his former colleagues. Skilling offers as
evidence an email in which Belden’s attorney asked for permission for Belden to send
Christmas cards. Skilling did not present that evidence to the district court, and “[i]t is our
well-settled rule that ‘issues raised for the first time on appeal are not reviewable by this court
unless they involve purely legal questions and failure to consider them would result in
65
No. 06-20885
Skilling further contends that the government made “veiled threats” to the
lawyer for Mark Palmer (“Palmer”), a former Enron spokesperson. Palmer’s
lawyer declared that an FBI agent contacted him before Palmer’s testimony in
another Enron-related trial, saying it was “not in [Palmer’s] best interest” to
testify for the defense, because one of the defendants might try to shift the blame
onto him. As the government observed, however, Palmer testified at the other
trial, suggesting that the government’s intimidating misconduct—if it were in
fact misconduct—did not interfere substantially with Palmer’s free and
unhampered choice to testify. See Thompson, 130 F.3d at 687 (suggesting that
a witness’s decision to testify, after a warning from FBI agents that he could be
arrested and jailed for perjury if he did not tell the truth, indicated that the
FBI’s statements did not deter the witness from testifying). Moreover, because
the evidence of alleged misconduct occurred in a separate trial, an additional
inference is necessary to tie any governmental interference in that case to this
one: namely, that if the government interfered there, it also must have done so
here. In light of the paucity of more definite evidence, there is no clear error.69
manifest injustice.’” Diaz v. Collins, 114 F.3d 69, 71 n.5 (5th Cir. 1997) (quoting Varnado v.
Lynaugh, 920 F.2d 320, 321 (5th Cir. 1991)). Because the issues surrounding the email involve
questions of both law and fact, we cannot review this particular argument.
Skilling also avers that a voicemail transcript of a phone call from Weissmann to the
lawyer for David Duncan, an Arthur Andersen partner, suggests prosecutorial abuse. Again,
Skilling failed to present that transcript to the district court, and for the same reasons, we
cannot address it.
69
Skilling also points to evidence suggesting that the government called Larry Ciscon’s
lawyer three times in the two weeks leading up to his scheduled testimony in another Enron-
related case to reiterate that he was still a “target.” Skilling contends that this shows that
governmental interference was responsible for Ciscon’s choice not to cooperate with Skilling.
Skilling also argues that the government told Rex Shelby that it would not be a “good idea” to
speak with the attorneys for Joe Hirko (a co-CEO of EBS) in another related case. These
claims are similar to the one involving Palmer and have the same result. Moreover, for both
Ciscon and Shelby, as with Belden, Skilling did not even ask the court to send its letter urging
witnesses to cooperate and not to fear retribution.
66
No. 06-20885
Similarly, Skilling argues that the government, in another Enron-related
trial, changed the status of former Arthur Andersen employee Kate Agnew
(“Agnew”) from “witness” to “subject” and threatened her with perjury, thus
causing her not to testify. Skilling apparently learned of this threat from one of
Agnew’s former attorneys. One of her current attorneys, however, filed a
declaration stating that the former attorney’s allegations were not true, that
“Ms. Agnew does not want to meet with or be interviewed by [Skilling’s]
counsel,” and that her decision was “not based on any concern or fear regarding
possible prosecutorial intimidation or retaliation.” If the government’s actions
did not interfere substantially with Agnew’s decision not to testify, then there
is no violation of Skilling’s right to a fair trial. Cf. id. (noting that the defendant
“failed to make the necessary showing that the government’s actions interfered
substantially with [the witness’s] free and unhampered choice to testify”
(internal quotation marks omitted)). The district court’s finding as to Agnew is
not clearly erroneous.
In sum, the district court did not clearly err in finding that Skilling failed
to show that any governmental misconduct interfered substantially with his
ability to communicate with potential witnesses or otherwise to present his
defense.
VII. Suppression of Exculpatory Evidence
Under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), the government may not
withhold evidence that is favorable to a criminal defendant. United States v.
Walters, 351 F.3d 159, 169 (5th Cir. 2003). Skilling asserts that the government
violated Brady in three ways. First, he alleges that the government withheld
material information regarding Fastow’s plea agreement. Second, Skilling
contends that the government’s use of an open file to satisfy its Brady disclosure
obligation was legally insufficient. Third, Skilling alleges that the government
67
No. 06-20885
provided him with summaries of FBI interviews with Fastow that did not
accurately reflect what Fastow had told government investigators. Having
reviewed the record, we find no Brady violations.
To establish a Brady violation, a defendant must show that (1) the
prosecution suppressed evidence; (2) the evidence was favorable, such as
exculpatory or impeachment evidence; and (3) the evidence was material. See
Mahler v. Kaylo, 537 F.3d 494, 499-500 (5th Cir. 2008). Moreover, a defendant
must establish that his or her failure to discover the evidence was not the result
of a lack of due diligence.70 See United States v. Mulderig, 120 F.3d 534, 541 (5th
Cir. 1997); United States v. Marrero, 904 F.2d 251, 261 (5th Cir. 1990). Where
a defendant fails to establish any one element of Brady, we need not inquire into
the other components. See United States v. Runyan, 290 F.3d 223, 245 (5th Cir.
2002); United States v. Hughes, 230 F.3d 815, 819 (5th Cir. 2000).
Of the Brady components, materiality “is generally the most difficult to
prove.” Mahler, 537 F.3d at 500. In assessing materiality, we must determine
“whether ‘the favorable evidence could reasonably be taken to put the whole case
in such a different light as to undermine confidence in the verdict.’” United
States v. Sipe, 388 F.3d 471, 478 (5th Cir. 2004) (quoting Strikler v. Greene, 527
U.S. 263, 290 (1999)). As this court has summarized the materiality inquiry,
[t]he Supreme Court has imposed four criteria for determining
whether evidence is material. First, materiality does not require
the defendant to demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence
that omitted evidence would have resulted in acquittal. Second, he
need not weigh the withheld evidence against the disclosed evidence
to show he would have been acquitted by the resulting totality.
Third, if evidence is found material, there is no need to conduct a
harmless error analysis. Fourth, the withheld evidence should be
considered as a whole, not item-by-item.
70
Some of our cases have treated this “due diligence” requirement as a fourth element
of a Brady claim. See, e.g., Walters, 351 F.3d at 169.
68
No. 06-20885
DiLosa v. Cain, 279 F.3d 259, 263 (5th Cir. 2002) (citing Kyles v. Whitley, 514
U.S. 419, 434-37 (1995)). We concluded that “[t]he sum of these four guideposts
means that to show a due process violation when the state withholds evidence,
a defendant need not prove that his trial necessarily would have had a different
outcome; a lack of faith in the result is sufficient.” Id. Additionally, materiality
depends largely on the value of the suppressed evidence relative to evidence that
the government disclosed. Sipe, 388 F.3d at 478.
We review Brady questions de novo. See, e.g., Runyan, 290 F.3d at 245;
Hughes, 230 F.3d at 819. As a preliminary matter, we note that Skilling has
alleged several Brady violations that are not properly before this court. Skilling
never raised these claims to the district court, and some of his arguments rely
on evidence that was never before the district court. As we noted in United
States v. Gonzales, 436 F.3d 560, 580 (5th Cir. 2006), “Brady challenges present
fact-based judgments that cannot be adequately first made on appellate review.
That is why Brady challenges must be brought to the district court’s attention,
winnowed by the trial judge, and made part of the record through a motion for
new trial.” That is, the proper avenue for a defendant to raise claims such as
these would be a motion for a new trial under Federal Rule of Criminal
Procedure 33. Thus, as we note throughout, we will not address Skilling’s claims
that he did not sufficiently bring to the district court.
A. Fastow’s Plea Agreement
In his plea agreement, Fastow agreed to a sentence of ten years, and the
government promised not to make any motion for a reduction in sentence. At
trial, the government bolstered Fastow’s credibility by emphasizing that he had
no reason to lie because he would be spending ten years—and no less—in prison.
After Skilling’s conviction, however, a judge sentenced Fastow to approximately
six years. Based on the disparity between the amount of time the government
told the jury Fastow would serve and Fastow’s actual sentence, Skilling alleges
69
No. 06-20885
two distinct but related Brady violations: (1) that the government improperly
bolstered Fastow’s trial testimony and (2) that the government and Fastow had
an undisclosed side deal regarding Fastow’s testimony.
Skilling did not raise his first claim in the district court. As Skilling
presents this claim as a Brady violation, we cannot address it for the first time
on appeal. See Gonzales, 436 F.3d at 580. Even if we could, Skilling’s argument
is conceptually flawed. He essentially argues that the government suppressed
the fact that Fastow’s sentence was not irrevocably and inevitably fixed at ten
years. Skilling’s argument cannot proceed past step one, however, because there
was nothing that the government suppressed. Skilling knew, or at least should
have known, that a sentencing court could reduce Fastow’s sentence pursuant
to United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005). We do not dispute Skilling’s
assertion that the government “had to know” that Fastow’s sentence could
possibly be less than ten years. Yet Skilling also had to know this, and thus the
government did not suppress anything. See Runyan, 290 F.3d at 246 (“Evidence
is not ‘suppressed’ if the defendant knows or should know of the essential facts
that would enable him to take advantage of it.” (internal quotation marks
omitted)); United States v. Dixon, 132 F.3d 192, 199 (5th Cir. 1997) (“Brady does
not obligate the government to produce for a defendant evidence or information
already known to him, or that he could have obtained from other sources by
exercising reasonable diligence.” (alteration and internal quotation marks
omitted)); United States v. Brown, 628 F.2d 471, 473 (5th Cir. 1980) (“In no way
can information known and available to the defendant be said to have been
suppressed by the Government.”). With such knowledge, Skilling could have
objected if he felt that the government’s characterization of Fastow’s plea
agreement was inaccurate, or he could have raised this issue on cross-
examination.
70
No. 06-20885
Skilling’s second claim is not properly before this court because the district
court never considered any evidence of an undisclosed side deal for accuracy or
materiality.71 A Rule 33 motion for a new trial would be the proper avenue for
a defendant to bring this type of claim.
Because the government did not suppress any information regarding
Fastow’s sentence, we need not address its materiality.
B. Use of an Open File
Skilling next asserts that the government’s use of an open file failed to
satisfy its Brady obligation to disclose material evidence. Skilling contends that
the government’s open file, which consisted of several hundred million pages of
documents, “resulted in the effective concealment of a huge quantity of
exculpatory evidence.” As the government never directed Skilling to a single
Brady document contained in the open file, Skilling argues that the government
suppressed evidence in violation of Brady.
As a general rule, the government is under no duty to direct a defendant
to exculpatory evidence within a larger mass of disclosed evidence. See United
States v. Mulderig, 120 F.3d 534, 541 (5th Cir. 1997); United States v. Mmahat,
106 F.3d 89, 94 (5th Cir. 1997) (“[T]here is no authority for the proposition that
the government’s Brady obligations require it to point the defense to specific
documents within a larger mass of material that it has already turned over.”),
overruled in part on other grounds by United States v. Estate of Parsons, 367
71
Skilling contends that he raised this issue in the district court. The only reference
he provides for this assertion, however, is a brief mention of Fastow’s sentencing in his petition
for bail pending appeal. This is insufficient. Skilling did not squarely raise the issue of this
Brady claim or move to reopen the verdict. He did not request an evidentiary hearing and
never referenced any legal authority. Skilling never called upon the district court to decide
whether the government had violated Brady, and consequently, he never properly raised the
issue in the district court. Cf. United States v. Cohen, 60 F.3d 460, 462 (8th Cir. 1995) (holding
that the defendant did not preserve a claim for a breach of a plea agreement where the
defendant referenced the alleged breach in his motion for release on bail pending appeal but
the district court never ruled on the claim).
71
No. 06-20885
F.3d 409 (5th Cir. 2004) (en banc); Marrero, 904 F.2d at 261 (“While the
Supreme Court in Brady held that the government may not properly conceal
exculpatory evidence from a defendant, it does not place any burden upon the
Government to conduct a defendant’s investigation or assist in the presentation
of the defense’s case.”); see also Runyan, 290 F.3d at 246 (“The government is not
required . . . to facilitate the compilation of exculpatory material that, with some
industry, defense counsel could marshal on their own.” (internal quotation
marks omitted)). Further, where potentially exculpatory information is
available to the defendant through an exercise of due diligence, there is no
suppression for the purposes of Brady. See Kutzner v. Cockrell, 303 F.3d 333,
336 (5th Cir. 2002) (“When evidence is equally available to both the defense and
the prosecution, the defendant must bear the responsibility of failing to conduct
a diligent investigation.”); Brown, 628 F.2d at 473 (“[W]hen information is fully
available to a defendant at the time of trial and his only reason for not obtaining
and presenting the evidence to the Court is his lack of reasonable diligence, the
defendant has no Brady claim.”).
Skilling argues, however, that the voluminosity of the government’s open
file prevented him from effectively reviewing the government’s disclosure. He
asserts that no amount of diligence, much less reasonable diligence, could have
accomplished this task. In Skilling’s words, “it would have taken scores of
attorneys, working around-the-clock for several years to complete the job.”
Ultimately, Skilling argues that the government’s production of the voluminous
open file, as a matter of law, suppressed exculpatory evidence.
There is little case law on whether a voluminous open file can itself violate
Brady, and the outcomes of these cases seem to turn on what the government
does in addition to allowing access to a voluminous open file. See, e.g., United
States v. Ferguson, 478 F. Supp. 2d 220, 241-42 (D. Conn. 2007); United States
v. Hsia, 24 F. Supp. 2d 14, 29-30 (D.D.C. 1998); Emmett v. Ricketts, 397 F. Supp.
72
No. 06-20885
1025, 1043 (N.D. Ga. 1975). In the present case, the government did much more
than drop several hundred million pages on Skilling’s doorstep. The open file
was electronic and searchable. The government produced a set of “hot
documents” that it thought were important to its case or were potentially
relevant to Skilling’s defense. The government created indices to these and
other documents. The government also provided Skilling with access to various
databases concerning prior Enron litigation. Skilling contends that the
government should have scoured the open file in search of exculpatory
information to provide to him. Yet the government was in no better position to
locate any potentially exculpatory evidence than was Skilling.
Additionally, there is no evidence that the government found something
exculpatory but hid it in the open file with the hope that Skilling would never
find it. Skilling simply makes an unsupported assertion of improper conduct on
the part of the government, but he fails to provide sufficient evidence to even
hint at such deceit. If there is something exculpatory still in the open file, we
must assume—as there is no compelling evidence to the contrary—that the
government does not know about it either.
We do not hold that the use of a voluminous open file can never violate
Brady. For instance, evidence that the government “padded” an open file with
pointless or superfluous information to frustrate a defendant’s review of the file
might raise serious Brady issues. Creating a voluminous file that is unduly
onerous to access might raise similar concerns. And it should go without saying
that the government may not hide Brady material of which it is actually aware
in a huge open file in the hope that the defendant will never find it. These
scenarios would indicate that the government was acting in bad faith in
performing its obligations under Brady. But considering the additional steps the
government took beyond merely providing Skilling with the open file, the equal
access that Skilling and the government had to the open file, the complexity of
73
No. 06-20885
Skilling’s case, and the absence of evidence that the government used the open
file to hide potentially exculpatory evidence or otherwise acted in bad faith, we
hold that the government’s use of the open file did not violate Brady.
C. Accuracy of the 302s
During its investigation, the government conducted several hundred hours
of interviews with Enron’s CFO, Andrew Fastow. Government agents took
almost 420 pages of handwritten notes during these interviews (the “interview
notes”). From these notes, the government compiled two FBI Form 302s—one
in December 2003 and another in January 2005—that summarized the
substance of the interview notes. Each 302 covered multiple interviews. The
government provided the 302s to Skilling but refused to disclose the interview
notes at that time. The government also refused to provide Skilling with draft
versions of the 302s, asserting that they had been destroyed.72
The district court refused Skilling’s repeated entreaties that the
government disclose the interview notes but eventually ordered the government
to produce the interview notes for the court to review in camera. As the district
court noted, one of the purposes of the in camera review was to determine
whether the interview notes contained any Brady material. The district court
ordered the government to assemble the interview notes into binders (the
“Fastow Binders”), indexed by Fastow’s trial testimony and cross-referenced to
the relevant portions of the 302s and interview notes. The district court
intended to review the interview notes throughout Fastow’s testimony and
planned to give Skilling access to the notes only if Fastow denied a statement
72
Skilling contends that the destruction of the draft 302s violated Brady. We need not
address this issue at length, for even if the government unlawfully destroyed draft 302s, the
government has now provided Skilling with the interview notes. Because the draft 302s are
merely an intermediary step between what Fastow said—recorded in the raw notes—and what
the government reported Fastow as saying—recorded in the 302s—any destruction of the draft
302s is immaterial for purposes of Brady.
74
No. 06-20885
attributed to him in the 302s and the notes differed from the 302s. The
government provided the district court with the Fastow Binders, but omitted
some pages that are at issue in this appeal.73 The district court never allowed
Skilling to access the Fastow Binders throughout Fastow’s testimony and later
returned them to the government.
While Skilling’s appeal was pending, this court ordered the government
to turn over the interview notes in their entirety. Upon reviewing the notes,
Skilling contended that they contained exculpatory and impeachment evidence
that the government was required to disclose under Brady. This court allowed
Skilling and the government to submit supplemental briefing on these issues.
At oral argument, we expressed some hesitancy to addressing the Brady issues
involving the notes. We suggested that perhaps a motion for a new trial under
Rule 33 was a more appropriate forum for these claims, as there was no explicit
ruling on these issues in the district court, and some of the interview notes were
not included in the Fastow Binders. At the urging of both Skilling and the
government, however, we have reluctantly conducted a review of the interview
notes that the government originally included in the Fastow Binders. Finding
no clear error on the part of the district court, we hold that the government did
not violate Brady in refusing to disclose the interview notes.
At oral argument, Skilling suggested that this court could review the
interview notes de novo. Skilling is mistaken. Granted, this court normally
reviews Brady claims de novo. See Runyan, 290 F.3d at 245. As the government
pointed out, however, we apply a different standard when Brady claims come to
73
The parties dispute whether the government acted in bad faith in not disclosing all
of the interview notes. Because the district court was never aware of the undisclosed notes,
it had no opportunity to address whether the nondisclosure was in bad faith. Just as we are
not addressing the undisclosed notes, we will not address whether the government acted in bad
faith in not disclosing them. Again, the proper avenue for such an argument would be a
motion for a new trial under Rule 33.
75
No. 06-20885
us under the somewhat unique procedural posture of the present case. Where
a district court has reviewed potential Brady material in camera and ruled that
the material was not discoverable, we review the district court’s decision only for
clear error. See United States v. Holley, 23 F.3d 902, 914 (5th Cir. 1994) (“Here,
the district court examined the relevant FBI reports and found that they did not
contain discoverable material. We recognize that in situations such as this,
much deference should be paid to the trial judge who observed the hours and
days of testimony. After reviewing the record and considering Holley’s
speculation that the FBI reports could have been useful in the cross-examination
of several witnesses, we find nothing which leads us to conclude that the district
court’s conclusion is clearly erroneous.”).74
The government provided the district court with the Fastow Binders,
which contained almost all of the interview notes in question. After Fastow had
finished testifying, the district court returned the Fastow Binders to the
74
See e.g., United States v. Williams, 998 F.2d 258, 269 (5th Cir. 1993) (“After an in
camera review, the district court concluded that nothing in the Forms 302 would tend to
exculpate the defendant, reduce his sentence, or assist him in impeaching a government
witness. We find nothing in the record which would cause us to believe that the district court’s
conclusions were clearly erroneous.”); United States v. Mora, 994 F.2d 1129, 1139 (5th Cir.
1993) (affirming a district court’s determination that notes were not discoverable under Brady
on a finding of no clear error where the government was “[u]ncertain whether [a DEA agent’s]
notes were exculpatory or of impeachment value,” and thus “submitted them to the district
court for in camera inspection”); Brown, 628 F.2d at 472 (reviewing the district court’s decision
for clear error after the court had remanded the case for an in camera determination of
whether an IRS investigative file included exculpatory evidence); see also United States v.
Trevino, 89 F.3d 187, 190 (4th Cir. 1996) (reviewing a district court’s decision that privileged
or confidential material did not need to be disclosed under Brady and stating that “[t]he trial
court’s ultimate conclusion as to whether the information is subject to disclosure—whether the
evidence is both material and favorable—may be disturbed on appeal only if it is clearly
erroneous” (citing Mora, 994 F.2d at 1139)); United States v. Monroe, 943 F.2d 1007, 1012 (9th
Cir. 1991) (“In general, a district court’s ruling on the prosecution’s duty to produce evidence
under Brady is reviewed de novo. When, however, a district court rules on whether a
defendant should have access to particular information in a government document that has
been produced pursuant to Brady, we review for clear error.” (citations omitted)); United States
v. Strifler, 851 F.2d 1197, 1202 (9th Cir. 1988) (“We adopt the rule that we will reverse for
denial of Brady material from a probation file if, on review of the file, we find that the district
court committed clear error in failing to release probative, relevant, material information.”).
76
No. 06-20885
government, stating, “I don’t think [the defense] is going to need them.” This
indicates that the district court found, albeit implicitly, no Brady material in the
Fastow Binders. Cf. United States v. Lampazianie, 251 F.3d 519, 526 (5th Cir.
2001) (suggesting that a district court’s evaluation of sealed evidence coupled
with a later decision that the evidence remain sealed raised a “reasonable
inference that the district court . . . found nothing exculpatory in the relevant
documents”). Because the district court reviewed most of the interview notes
and found no Brady material, we review the district court’s decision regarding
those notes for clear error.
Although clear error is the appropriate standard of review, we cannot
review Skilling’s remaining Brady claims involving the notes that the
government did not provide to the district court. For whatever reason, the
government did not submit all of the interview notes to the district court, and
the district court never had a chance to review these excluded notes for Brady
material. As mentioned above, we cannot address an alleged Brady violation for
the first time on appeal. The proper avenue for Skilling to raise his claims
regarding the notes that were not in the original Fastow Binders would be a
Rule 33 motion for a new trial.
The government provided Skilling with 302s summarizing the contents of
the interview notes. As noted above, materiality often depends on the value of
the suppressed evidence relative to the disclosed evidence; where suppressed
evidence is merely cumulative, no Brady violation occurs. Sipe, 388 F.3d at 478
(citing Spence v. Johnson, 80 F.3d 989, 995 (5th Cir. 1996)). In Skilling’s case,
this means that there was no Brady violation if the information in the 302s is
duplicative of that in the interview notes. As we must analyze the materiality
of any suppressed, exculpatory evidence cumulatively, we save our materiality
discussion until after we have addressed each alleged suppression.
77
No. 06-20885
Finally, throughout this section we quote extensively from Skilling’s brief,
the 302s, and the interview notes. Unless otherwise noted, all alterations,
omissions, emphases, and errors are as they appear in these documents. In
particular, we have endeavored to present the handwritten interview notes as
accurately as possible and have noted when words are illegible.
1. Global Galactic
Skilling first claims that the 302s omitted one of Fastow’s statements in
the interview notes relating to the Global Galactic document. As we mentioned
earlier, Global Galactic was Fastow’s handwritten list that memorialized the
otherwise undocumented side deals between LJM and Enron. In preparation for
a meeting with Skilling, Fastow compiled a list of talking points that included
the confirmation of Global Galactic. At trial, the government used this talking
points list to argue that Skilling was aware of the side deals described in Global
Galactic. Fastow testified that he recalled discussing the talking points list with
Skilling “pretty completely,” and the government introduced the talking points
list to credit this testimony.
The interview notes, however, contain a statement from Fastow that he
“doesn’t think [he] discussed list w/JS.”75 (alteration added). The 302s contain
no mention of this statement. This statement, Skilling argues, was valuable
impeachment material that the government suppressed in violation of Brady.
Skilling also asserts that this statement corroborated his testimony that he did
not discuss Global Galactic with Fastow and suggests that the government
knowingly presented false testimony. The government responds that the
statement is of little impeachment value and was omitted from the Fastow
Binders because Fastow made this statement while discussing Enron Wind, a
subject unrelated to the trial.
75
It is unclear whether the “list” spoken of refers to Global Galactic or the talking points
list.
78
No. 06-20885
We find the omission of this statement from the 302s troubling. Perhaps
even more troubling is that the government never disclosed the page of interview
notes containing this statement to the district court. However, because the
district court never had the opportunity to consider this page of interview notes,
we cannot address this Brady claim for the first time on appeal. The district
court did not assess the materiality of this statement or determine whether its
suppression violated Brady. Thus, there is nothing for us to review. Skilling
must bring this claim to the district court before we can address it.
2. The Raptors
As we described above, the Raptors were structured finance vehicles that
Enron used to hedge its investments and transfer underperforming assets off of
its books. Enron enlisted the Fastow-run LJM, an “independent” third party, to
own a portion of the Raptors. The government alleged that a secret side deal, or
“quid pro quo,” existed between Enron and LJM, meaning that LJM was not an
independent third party because its equity was never at risk. Under this quid
pro quo, Enron guaranteed LJM that it would recoup its $30 million dollar
investment in the Raptors plus $11 million dollars in profit (the quid) and, in
return, LJM would let Enron hedge any asset at any price without performing
due diligence (the quo). The documents creating the Raptors did not include this
secret side deal.
Skilling argues that the government suppressed exculpatory statements
that Fastow made regarding the Raptors and posits that Fastow’s trial
testimony was inconsistent with a number of pages in the interview notes. The
government responds that Skilling misunderstands the notes, and we agree.
a. Whether Arthur Andersen Knew About the Quid Pro
Quo
The government asserted that Skilling and Enron hid the quid pro quo
from Arthur Andersen. As part of his reliance defense, however, Skilling
79
No. 06-20885
claimed that Arthur Andersen was fully informed about and approved the
transactions involving the Raptors. At trial, Fastow testified that Arthur
Andersen had “checked off on” every aspect of the Raptors except the quid pro
quo. This testimony is consistent with the 302s, which indicate that “Fastow
believe[d] Enron showed AA the entire deal except for the quid pro quo,”
(alteration added), and that “Fastow never thought it could have been a problem
for AA.” Skilling asserts that Fastow’s statements in the interview notes are
inconsistent with this testimony. In so doing, Skilling either misunderstands or
misrepresents the notes.
Skilling points to five statements in particular that he alleges demonstrate
Arthur Andersen’s knowledge and approval of the quid pro quo. Skilling first
asserts that the government improperly withheld the following statement, as he
presents it (with his own emphasis) in his supplemental brief:
They [Rick Causey’s group and the many other people working on
Raptors] didn’t think that QPQ was wrong – Didn’t think should be
hiding this.
Skilling characterizes “They” as including “many other people working on the
Raptors,” and implies that this group included Arthur Andersen. Thus,
according to Skilling, this note is contrary to the 302s and Fastow’s testimony.
Skilling misrepresents this statement. The context of the interview notes
indicates that “They” referred to Enron employees, not to Arthur Andersen
auditors. Indeed, the sentence just preceding this statement indicates that the
statement only referred to members of Rick Causey’s group:
Don’t know who else in RC’s group knew, But deal not a secret.
They didn’t think that QPQ was wrong. – Didn’t think should be
hiding this.
This statement does not indicate that Arthur Andersen knew of the quid pro quo.
Further, the 302s relate the information that members of Causey’s group knew
80
No. 06-20885
about the quid pro quo. Thus, this statement in the interview notes was
consistent with the 302s.
Skilling also asserts that the government improperly withheld the
following statement from the interview notes, which we copy exactly as it
appears in Skilling’s supplemental brief:
Every lawyer involved understood this [quid pro quo]. Not a secret.
Never on ASF’s mind that hidden from AA.
Again, as the government points out, Skilling misrepresents the interview notes.
The interview notes do not indicate that every lawyer involved knew of the quid
pro quo, as Skilling’s alteration suggests. This statement appears under the
heading, “Who knew there was no business purpose to $41 Mil put,” referring to
the $41 million dollars that Enron guaranteed LJM. In the statement, “Every
lawyer involved understood this,” “this” refers to the lack of a business purpose.
The lack of a business purpose was “Not a secret.” Moreover, it was “Never on
ASF’s mind that [the lack of a business purpose was] hidden from AA.”
(alteration added). The government included this information in the 302s, which
stated,
Mike Edsall and every other lawyer involved in fashioning the
Raptors understood that there was no business purpose for the $41
million put. It was never a secret and Fastow never thought it could
have been a problem for AA.
Thus, the government did not suppress any exculpatory information by refusing
to disclose this statement in the interview notes.
Third, Skilling asserts error in the government’s refusal to disclose the
following statements from the interview notes, again copied exactly as Skilling
presents them in his supplemental brief:
QPQ – discussed w/ RC [Causey] + BG [Glisan]. (1) not a secret. No
reason not to discuss together. Was built into structure in a way,
but not valuation issue. (2) discussed w/ RC, JS [Skilling] + BG.
(a) QPQ valuation issue was not a secret to AF – no attempt to
conceal.
81
No. 06-20885
What does this say about AA’s role. (1) Opinion ö AA’s role was to
help EN find ways to navigate through the rules to find a way for
EN to get treatment it desired. They did this through a very
technical analysis of the rules. (2) Did AA know this was return of
money? AF’s opinion: AA knew. AA actively helping EN to find
ways to navigate around the rules.
AF believed they (AA) were complicit. AF never doubted that EN was
sharing entire deal w/ AA.
The first statement, although cryptic, says nothing about Arthur Andersen.
Although Skilling appears to emphasize the statements that the quid pro quo
was not a secret, these seem to relate only to the fact that it was not a secret to
the individuals named in the note. Further, the 302s indicate that both Causey
(RC) and Glisan (BG) were aware of the quid pro quo. The 302s also state that
Skilling knew that the purpose of the Raptors was to conceal Enron’s valuation
of the assets. The first statement thus contains nothing regarding Arthur
Andersen’s knowledge of the quid pro quo, and the 302s disclose the other
information.
Skilling takes the second and third statements out of context. Although
all three statements are on the same page of interview notes, the second and
third statements appear further down the page from the first and are under the
separate heading, “What is AF + BG mindset w/ BG says all we have to do is
treat it as ‘on’, not ‘of,’” and the subheading, “What does this say about AA’s
role.” These statements concern Arthur Andersen’s approval of the $41 million
dollars that LJM received from the Raptors. As Enron and LJM originally
structured the deal, LJM was to receive the $41 million as a return of capital.
Arthur Andersen approved the deal only after this was changed to a return on
capital. Thus, the second statement regarding what Arthur Andersen “knew”
refers to the improper characterization of LJM’s return, not the quid pro quo.
Finally, although Fastow’s statement that he believed Enron was sharing
the entire deal with Arthur Andersen is facially inconsistent with his statement
82
No. 06-20885
that Arthur Andersen approved everything except the quid pro quo, the
statements are not conflicting when placed in context. This third statement
appears in a discussion concerning the treatment of LJM’s return. That is, this
statement regards only the “quid” portion of the side deal; it says nothing about
Arthur Andersen’s knowledge of LJM’s agreement to accept Enron’s asset
valuations for hedges. Further, the 302s correctly reflect that Arthur Andersen
was aware of the improper treatment of LJM’s return:
AA knew that LJM2 was receiving its capital plus a profit but AA
always helped Enron find ways around the rules. AA had to know
what was going on, because the deal had already been documented
with the $41 million put, failed and was revived by this one change
[from “of” to “on”]. AA had to understand what was happening.
Fastow believes Enron showed AA the entire deal except the quid
pro quo.
(alteration added). Thus, the statements in the interview notes add little to
what Skilling already knew from the 302s.
b. Whether Skilling Knew About the Quid Pro Quo
Skilling next contends that the government suppressed statements
indicating that he did not know about the quid pro quo. At trial, Fastow testified
that he discussed the quid pro quo with Skilling. But during his first interview
with the government about the quid pro quo, Fastow identified only four
people—besides himself—who were aware of the quid pro quo. Skilling was not
one of those people. Skilling asserts that the government violated Brady by
refusing to disclose that Fastow did not mention Skilling during this first
interview.
Skilling, however, is mistaken. The government released two 302s, one
from December 2003 and one from January 2005. In the first 302, Fastow listed
a number of people that knew of the quid pro quo and did not include Skilling.
In the second 302, Fastow said that Skilling did know of the quid pro quo.
83
No. 06-20885
Skilling should have recognized that Fastow’s recollection had changed.76
Consequently, it is not clear to us that Fastow’s failure to mention Skilling
during the first interview was even suppressed, much less material.
Skilling also contends that the government should have disclosed a specific
statement concerning Skilling’s knowledge about the quid pro quo. As Skilling
presents this later statement from the interview notes in his supplemental brief,
Not sure what Skilling knew. Causey + Glisan explained structure
to JS [Skilling].
1) Told JS that BG [Glisan] solved problem on back end.
2) Don’t know if JS can say he didn’t know about QPQ, but shouldn’t
matter b/c entire purpose of Raptor is to conceal financials of ENE
– This continues through Restructuring etc.
The indication in the undisclosed statement that Causey and Glisan explained
the quid pro quo to Skilling suggests exactly what the 302s state: that Skilling
understood the quid pro quo. Additionally, the differences between the
December 2003 and January 2005 302s mitigate any harm from the
nondisclosure of this statement. In later interviews, Fastow repeatedly stated
that he discussed the quid pro quo with Skilling. One interview note in
particular reads,
Discussed Quid Pro Quo w/JS during meetings. Information
conveyed was to make sure JS understood + approved structures
and understood the QPQ.
Based upon this and other statements, the second 302 stated that “Skilling
understood the quid pro quo.” That is, the December 2003 302 did not list
Skilling as having any knowledge of the quid pro quo, but the January 2005 302
did list Skilling as having this knowledge. Thus, the 302s’ different statements
about who knew of the quid pro quo should have given Skilling adequate
warning that there might be inconsistencies in the interview notes. Based on
76
The government explains Fastow’s shifting recollection by asserting that Fastow
remembered more things as he reviewed additional documents.
84
No. 06-20885
this discrepancy, Skilling should have been on notice of Fastow’s potentially
inconsistent recollection and could have questioned him about this on cross-
examination.
c. Whether Arthur Andersen Approved the Asset
Valuations That Were Part of the “Quo”
Skilling also contends that the government suppressed Fastow’s
statements indicating that Arthur Andersen approved the valuations of assets
that Enron hedged in the Raptors. At trial, Fastow testified that LJM allowed
Enron to put assets into the Raptors “at whatever level they wanted” without
performing due diligence because LJM had no equity at risk. Skilling contends
that LJM entered the Raptor transactions not because it had no equity at risk,
but because an independent appraiser—Arthur Andersen—approved the
valuation. Skilling posits that the interview notes support his assertion. As
Skilling states in his supplemental brief,
In an interview with the Task Force, Fastow conceded he
“instructed LJM people to accept [Enron’s] valuations” not because
LJM2 had no equity at risk, but “b/c [Arthur Andersen] would
approve [the] valuations.”
(quoting interview notes). Skilling asserts that this statement is inconsistent
with the 302s, which stated,
LJM2 would not do due diligence but simply accepted the valuations
on Enron’s books. AA had already signed off on these valuations.
Again, Skilling is mistaken. Without alterations, the statement in the
interview notes reads,
AF instructed LJM people to accept ENE valuations b/c AA would
approve valuations. AF told LJM people would be accommodating
to EN on valuation.
Contrary to Skilling’s interlineation, this statement does not contradict the
government’s assertion that LJM entered into the Raptor transactions because
85
No. 06-20885
it had no equity at risk. Nor is it much different from the 302. Further, the 302
is consistent with another page of the interview notes:
Told JS – can’t get price on these things – due diligence took to long
– would use ENE value on books – AA already signed off.
Thus, they are of little exculpatory value.77
3. Cuiaba
In September 1999, Enron sold a minority interest in a Brazilian power
plant called Cuiaba to LJM, allegedly to meet its third quarter earnings targets.
According to the government, Skilling promised Fastow that if Enron could not
find another purchaser for Cuiaba, it would buy back the interest from LJM at
a price that would ensure LJM did not lose any money on the deal. This
guarantee eliminated any transfer risk, rendering Enron’s recording of earnings
from the sale improper. Skilling asserts that the government failed to turn over
relevant portions of the interview notes involving this transaction.
a. Whether Skilling Made a Guarantee to LJM
At trial, Fastow testified that Skilling personally gave him the guarantee,
although he admitted that Skilling did not use any words such as “promise.”
Skilling contends that the government suppressed a number of statements in the
interview notes that contradict Fastow’s testimony. We address each in turn.
First, Fastow testified that Skilling called Fastow into his office and
pressured LJM into purchasing the interest in Cuiaba. Skilling suggests that
Fastow’s testimony indicates that it was Skilling’s idea that LJM purchase
Cuiaba, and that this idea originated during their September 1999 meeting.
One 302 also suggests that the idea originated with Skilling, stating that
“SKILLING wanted LJM1 to purchase interest in Cuiaba.” Skilling contends
77
Skilling attempts to bolster his arguments with Fastow’s testimony in litigation that
occurred after Skilling’s trial. For the reasons discussed above, we cannot review this
testimony as evidence of a Brady violation for the first time on appeal.
86
No. 06-20885
that the following statement in the interview notes contradicts Fastow’s
testimony and the 302s:
May have been AF’s idea to have LJM buy + LJM would be
considered a hero b/c allowed EN to make #’s.
Skilling thus suggests that the government suppressed information that would
have allowed him to impeach Fastow’s testimony on this issue.
Even if we take Fastow’s testimony and the 302s to indicate what Skilling
suggests,78 he already had information indicating that the idea for LJM to buy
Cuiaba might have originated with Fastow. The 302s indicated that Fastow
gave Cuiaba as an example of a deal that LJM could do with Enron during a
June 1999 presentation to the Enron Board of Directors. This presentation took
place months before Skilling and Fastow agreed that LJM would purchase
Cuiaba. Thus, the government already disclosed the information in the
statement through the 302s.
Second, Fastow testified at trial that Skilling told him that he would not
lose any money in the Cuiaba deal. One 302 indicated that “SKILLING gave
FASTOW a ‘bear hug’ which was an assurance that LJM1 would not lose any
money on the Cuiaba project.” Skilling contends that Fastow’s language in his
testimony and the 302 are different from that used in the interview notes. In
one interview, Fastow reported that Skilling said LJM was “going to be fine.”
In another interview, Fastow reported that Skilling said “LJM would not get
stuck w/ asset – or something similar.” Skilling asserts that this variation in
language severely calls into question Fastow’s ability to recall accurately his
conversation with Skilling.
78
It is not clear to us that the 302s indicate that the idea originated with Skilling; they
seem to indicate only that Skilling wanted the deal to happen.
87
No. 06-20885
Again, Skilling misrepresents the context of the interview notes by
selectively quoting from them. One of the notes to which Skilling points, from
an interview on January 20, 2004, states,
Toward end of 3rd Q ‘99–SA group determined not going to
make #s.
solution was they would sell piece of Cuiaba to LJM – 2–3 wks b/4
end of q – spoke to JS in JS’s office. Told JS – Plant had trouble –
can’t do due diligence. How can get comfortable. JS gave “Bear
Hug” – said going to be fine. left room thinking won’t lose money.
ASF understood Enron would not let LJM lose money on deal – Did
not trust that JS would keep word.
In the margin next to this note is written “[illegible] LJM Won’t lose [illegible]
on’ Deal.” The other note to which Skilling points, from an interview on January
6, 2004, states,
Someone figured out selling Cuiaba would fill hole in earnings for
3Q.
a) Spoke to JS, RC,
b) Someone suggested LJM buy. Went to JS. Said understood that
they want LJM to buy, but it is at end of Quarter and nobody could
do the due diligence. JS said LJM would not get stuck w/ asset – or
something similar.
From these notes, Skilling points to only the phrases “going to be fine” and “LJM
would not get stuck w/ asset – or something similar.” Neither of these
statements differs much from the statement in the 302s or Fastow’s testimony.
In context, they all indicate that Skilling actually made the alleged guarantee.
The difference in language is of little significance.
Third, Fastow testified that he knew the guarantee, or “bear hug,” was
wrong. Fastow also testified that the Cuiaba guarantee was the first time that
Enron made such a guarantee to LJM. Skilling contends that this testimony is
contradicted by Fastow’s statement in the interview notes that he “didn’t have
feeling asking JS to do anything unusual or that hadn’t been done.” Skilling
argues that if there were in fact a guarantee and it were the first such
88
No. 06-20885
guarantee, then it would have been unusual and would not have been done
before. Skilling thus asserts that Fastow’s statement in the interview notes is
inconsistent with the government’s assertion that Skilling made an unlawful
guarantee to Fastow during the September 1999 meeting.
As the government asserts, Skilling again misrepresents the context of
this statement. Skilling and Fastow formed LJM to conduct a particular
transaction with Enron, and Cuiaba was the first deal thereafter. Thus, Cuiaba
was the first opportunity for such a guarantee between Skilling and Fastow. In
this context, it is difficult to imagine how Fastow could indicate that such
guarantees had been done before; he was discussing the second-ever deal
between Enron and LJM. The interview notes confirm this conclusion. The
relevant portion of the interview notes reads as follows:
BANKS:
Cuiaba: Thought this was an opportunity for ASF to be hero for
ENE. Want to make sure JS knew this + to get assurance that
would not lose money on deal. JS – AF – you do not have to worry
about losing money on deal. ENE would take any action to enhance
opportunity to report deal or conclude a deal. Didn’t have feeling
asking JS to do anything unusual or that hadn’t been done.
Bankers wanted credit for what they did. Wanted someone at ENE
to acknowledge what bank had done. Rare for bank to do business
w/out expectation of “chit” from enron.
In context, the statement indicates that Fastow did not think that it was
unusual for Skilling to reward those who had helped Enron conclude a deal, not
that the specific promise between Skilling and Fastow was not unusual. The
statement is arguably inculpatory, as it indicates that side deals and guarantees
were within the normal course of business.
Skilling’s remaining argument regarding whether he made a guarantee
relies on the statement “JS could have said you are stuck w/ Cuiaba” appearing
in one of the interview notes. The district court did not review this note, as the
89
No. 06-20885
government failed to include it in the Fastow Binders. For the reasons stated
above, we will not address this Brady claim for the first time on appeal.
b. Whether Skilling Confirmed the Guarantee in a
Conversation with Michael Kopper
Fastow testified that Enron was going to repurchase the Cuiaba interest
from LJM, but that he wished to avoid any unwelcome scrutiny of the
transaction. To do this, Fastow was to nominally transfer his interest in LJM
to Michael Kopper, and Kopper then was then to sell the Cuiaba interest to
Enron, making it look as if Fastow took no part in the buyback. Fastow also
testified that Skilling confirmed to Fastow that Enron would honor the original
guarantee. Finally, pursuant to the coconspirator exception to the hearsay rule,
Fastow related Kopper’s statement that he had spoken with Skilling and that
Skilling had confirmed the original guarantee. On these topics, the first 302
stated,
FASTOW, CAUSEY, and MINTZ all agreed and understood that
Enron would honor the original “bear hug” provided by SKILLING
after FASTOW disposed of his interest in LJM1. . . . FASTOW may
have told KOPPER to talk to SKILLING about the “bear hug” when
KOPPER purchased his interest in LJM1.
(omission added). The second 302 stated,
Cuiaba was included in LJM’s sale economics and Kopper knew
Enron would repurchase Cuiaba because he spoke to Skilling and
Causey about the Cuiaba buy-back. Fastow asked Skilling to make
Kopper comfortable with buying LJM and assure Kopper that Enron
would continue to do deals with LJM. Fastow is uncertain whether
he specifically mentioned Cuiaba when he asked Skilling to meet
with Kopper.
Skilling contends that the government suppressed evidence in the
interview notes relating to Kopper and these transactions. In particular,
Skilling points to the following statement in the interview notes:
AF might have told MK to talk to JS about buyout. AF doesn’t know
if MK went to talk w/ JS.
90
No. 06-20885
Skilling argues that the statement that Fastow “doesn’t know” if Kopper spoke
with Skilling contradicts Fastow’s testimony and the 302s, and thus should have
been disclosed. Skilling asserts that the government’s nondisclosure of this
statement makes it “obvious” that the government “manufactured the entire
Skilling-Kopper conversation and intentionally distorted the evidence to prove
it.”79
Once again, Skilling overstates his claim. The interview notes on which
Skilling focuses are consistent with the first 302, which indicates that Fastow
might have told Kopper to speak to Skilling. The lack of any information about
whether Kopper followed up on what Skilling might have recommended
indicates that Fastow did not know whether Kopper actually met with Skilling.
Further, the statement in the second 302 that Kopper did in fact speak with
Skilling, when juxtaposed against the statement in the first 302, indicates that
Fastow’s recollection might have changed. Skilling thus could have questioned
Fastow about his changing recollection of these events.
4. Nigerian Barges
According to the government, Enron wished to unload its interest in
energy-producing barges moored off the coast of Nigeria. Although Fastow at
first was reluctant to have LJM buy the barges, Fastow testified that Skilling
again gave him an implied guarantee, or “bear hug,” that LJM would not lose
money in the deal. Fastow thus agreed to purchase the barges, if necessary, but
wished to wait six months. To keep the barges off of its books for the interim,
Enron purported to sell the barges to Merrill Lynch. Fastow secretly guaranteed
79
In support of this assertion, Skilling relies on statements contained in Kopper’s 302.
This document is not in our record, and there is no indication that Skilling presented it to the
district court. Indeed, Skilling stipulates that he obtained access to the document only recently
when “counsel in another matter provided it to Skilling on the condition that [he] could use it
solely in connection with [his supplemental] brief and for no other purpose without further
approval.” Even if we could confirm the statements that Skilling says are in Kopper’s 302, we
could not consider this alleged Brady evidence for the first time on appeal.
91
No. 06-20885
to Merrill Lynch that it would receive a certain rate of return on the investment,
that Enron would seek a third-party buyer, and that Enron would ensure that
Merrill Lynch had resold the barges within six months. Because these
guarantees prevented Merrill Lynch from having any equity at risk, this
transaction was fraudulent. Skilling alleges that the government withheld
exculpatory information from the interview notes regarding this deal.
a. Whether Skilling Made a Guarantee to Fastow
Skilling faults the government for not disclosing that, during five
interviews regarding the barges deal, Fastow never asserted that Skilling gave
him a “bear hug” or other guarantee. The interview notes upon which Skilling
relies for this argument, however, are consistent with the 302s. Nowhere in the
relevant portions of the 302s does Fastow assert that Skilling guaranteed that
Fastow would not lose money on the barges deal. The only portion of the 302
that might be read as such a guarantee states,
Fastow was comfortable with Skilling’s assurance that he would not
be stuck with the Nigerian barges. He wanted the assurance from
Skilling, because he could rely on it.
Yet this statement does not clearly indicate that Skilling gave Fastow a
guarantee. Indeed, it instead reflects the interview notes quite accurately:
In Barges conversation. Due to discussion w/ JS. Comfortable
would not be stuck with Barge.
Skilling does not point to anywhere in the 302s where Fastow indicated that
Skilling gave him a guarantee concerning the barges deal. Thus, just as the
interview notes did not contain any indication that Skilling guaranteed that
LJM would not lose money on the barges deal, neither did the 302s. Skilling did
not need the interview notes to attack Fastow’s testimony on this issue.
b. Whether Fastow Made a Guarantee to Merrill Lynch
To corroborate Fastow’s testimony on the guarantee to Merrill Lynch, the
government introduced two documents: an email from Ben Glisan to Enron
92
No. 06-20885
employees and a document titled “Benefits to Enron,” which concerned the
barges deal. Upon being shown these documents, Fastow testified that they
“reflected” his “guarantee to Merrill Lynch.” Skilling contends that the
government did not disclose interview notes wherein Fastow indicated that these
documents were “not consistent” with his understanding of the barges deal,
which Skilling argues directly contradicts Fastow’s testimony.
The Glisan email stated, “To be clear, Enron is obligated to get Merrill out
of the deal on or before June 30.” The interview notes report that Fastow stated
the following upon reviewing the email:
Next Email – from BG, 5/11/00
1) Did not see Email b/4 today. Object to word obligated. Not
bothered that it is ENE w/ obligation.
Skilling argues that the government improperly withheld Fastow’s statement
that he objected to the word “obligated” in the Glisan email.
The Benefits to Enron document stated that “Enron sold barges to Merrill
Lynch in December 1999, promising that Merrill would be taken out by sale to
another investor by June 2000.” The interview notes report that Fastow stated
the following upon reviewing the Benefits to Enron document:
Benefits to Enron Summary – [illegible]
1) The 1st Paragraph – Description of transaction.
2) Summary not consistent w/ AF’s memory b/c not word “promise”
3) It was EN’s obligation to use “best effort” to find 3rd Party
takeout + went on to say there would be 3rd party b/c AF is
manager of 3rd Party.
a) B/C of ENE’s course of action over years would have taken
ML out.
b) Phone call did not obligate ENE to buy out, Did not intend
to bind ENE, was binding LJM to do something. LJM was 3d
party + was already found.
4) “Best Efforts” – must do everything possible that a reasonable
businessman would do to achieve result.
a) Best effort different from guarantee b/c still obligated to
perform. Best effort would be to find 3rd party to accomplish
buyout.
93
No. 06-20885
5) Could have said “Promise to use best efforts” but don’t recall
saying that.
Skilling contends that the government improperly withheld Fastow’s statement
that the Benefits to Enron document was inconsistent with his memory because
it used the word “promise.” In addition to arguing that this statement
contradicts Fastow’s testimony, Skilling alleges that disclosure would have
bolstered his theory of the case and supported his jury instructions argument.
The 302s, however, effectively disclosed the information in these
statements. Skilling knew of the content of the interview notes concerning the
Glisan email based upon Fastow’s repeated statements in the 302s that Enron
would not repurchase the barges, because LJM would instead. That is, the 302s
did not indicate that Enron was obligated, which is consistent with the
information in the interview notes. Thus, Skilling already had the information
necessary to challenge Fastow’s statement that the email “reflected” the
guarantee.
As to the Benefits to Enron document, the 302s make clear that Fastow
did not use the word promise because he did not need to. According to the 302s,
anyone listening would have realized that Fastow was making a promise without
using the actual word. Further, the statement that Enron would use its best
efforts to secure a purchaser is not at odds with the 302s, particularly the
statements that “FASTOW thinks there was every intention that Enron would
find a buyer for ML” and “ML could have a high level of confidence that an entity
was interested in the barges and that entity, LJM, would buy the barges after
six months.” In other words, it was not Enron itself that was formally bound to
buy the interest from Merrill Lynch; LJM would do so if Enron’s “best efforts”
did not result in another buyer. Again, Skilling had all the information
necessary to challenge Fastow’s testimony that the Benefits to Enron document
“reflected” the guarantee.
94
No. 06-20885
c. Corroboration of Guarantee to Merrill Lynch
Ben Glisan and Chris Loehr both worked for Fastow, and their testimony
corroborated the existence of a guarantee to Merrill Lynch. Skilling asserts that
the government improperly refused to disclose notes that reveal, in Skilling’s
words, that
Fastow explained to the Task Force that he lied to “subordinates” by
“tell[ing] Enron people this was a guarantee” in order to “motivate”
and “light a fire” within Enron to remarket the barges to a third-
party.
Skilling argues that the notes reveal that Fastow lied to subordinates, including
Glisan and Loehr. If Fastow had lied to Glisan and Loehr about the existence
of a guarantee, so the argument goes, their knowledge of the guarantee could
have been based entirely on lies. If that were the case, Skilling could have used
that information to undermine their testimony.
Skilling again misrepresents the interview notes. Nowhere in the notes
to which Skilling points does Fastow admit to “lying” to subordinates. The
relevant portion of the interview notes reads,
w/ Subordinates
1) Probably used a shorthand word like promise or guarantee as
2) Internally at Enron. AF, JM + BG would tell Enron people that
there was a guarantee so to light a fire under Int’l people – so it
should be in paperwork.
3) On phone call, didn’t say EN would buy back, – Rep of 3rd Party.
Explicit. Internally said Enron would buy back. Unit less
motivated if knew of LJM. “Enron will take necessary steps to
make sure you are out of this by June 30.” ö Reasonable for person
on other end to think Enron.
This statement does not contradict Fastow’s assertions that he made an implicit
guarantee to Merrill Lynch. Immediately preceding these notes, Fastow
discussed the guarantee with Merrill Lynch extensively, repeatedly noting that
he had made a guarantee in everything but name and was avoiding the word to
95
No. 06-20885
protect the accounting treatment. Thus, he was not necessarily lying when
using words like “promise” or “guarantee” with his subordinates.
Further, these notes do not support Skilling’s argument that Glisan and
Loehr based their testimony only upon Fastow’s lies. First, the notes report
Fastow as saying that “BG,” presumably Ben Glisan, was party to the plan to
“tell Enron people that this was a guarantee.” As Skilling bases his argument
that Fastow “lied” to Glisan upon this statement, it is difficult to understand
how it indicates that Fastow lied to Glisan about something which they were
then both supposed to lie about to “Enron people.” That is, it is unlikely that
Glisan was confused about the nature of the deal as a whole if he was also lying
to the “Enron people.” Second, Loehr worked at both Enron and LJM, and he
offered explicit testimony about the intricacies of the Enron/LJM interactions,
so it is unreasonable to conclude that he was tricked by Fastow’s alleged lie.
Therefore, it is unlikely that Skilling could have used this statement to impeach
either corroborating witness.
D. Materiality
As noted above, when a defendant alleges multiple Brady violations, we
must consider the materiality of all suppressed evidence cumulatively. As a
preliminary matter, we note that Skilling has failed to establish that the
government even suppressed some of the information at issue. The materiality
of any non-suppressed information is irrelevant to our cumulative analysis. See
Sipe, 388 F.3d at 493 (Smith, J., dissenting). Thus, we consider only the
cumulative materiality of the undisclosed interview notes that the government
included in the Fastow Binders, not Skilling’s arguments concerning Fastow’s
plea agreement or the government’s use of an open file. Further, a few of
Skilling’s alleged Brady violations are not properly before this court because the
96
No. 06-20885
district court did not consider them.80 They, too, are irrelevant to our cumulative
analysis.81
Considering that we are reviewing the district court’s determination that
these interview notes did not contain any Brady material only for clear error, we
need not dwell long on materiality. Skilling has established that there are some
differences between the interview notes and the 302s. Yet none of the
undisclosed statements are particularly material, and many are wholly
immaterial. For several of Skilling’s allegations, he has misunderstood—or
misrepresented—the contents of the interview notes. For others, the
government has presented a reasonable argument as to why the undisclosed
statements are of little or no materiality. We therefore hold that Skilling has
failed to establish any violations of Brady.
VIII. Sentencing
Skilling challenges various aspects of his sentence. In particular, he
disputes the district court’s application of the Sentencing Guidelines and the
reasonableness of his sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). Because we decide
that the court committed error in applying the Guidelines, we do not reach the
§ 3553(a) requirements, as proper calculation of the Guidelines range is
antecedent to a reasonableness challenge. See Gall v. United States, 128 S. Ct.
586, 596-97 (2007).
80
Skilling attached an appendix to his supplemental brief containing additional
examples of allegedly suppressed and exculpatory evidence. The district court did not consider
four of these examples, and thus we cannot review them on appeal. In any event, “arguments
may not be properly raised by incorporating them by reference from the appendix rather than
discussing them in the brief.” Graphic Controls Corp. v. Utah Med. Prods., Inc., 149 F.3d 1382,
1385 (Fed. Cir. 1998) (applying what was then Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 28(a)(6)).
Thus, we do not address the statements in Skilling’s appendix.
81
We note, however, that another court properly considering these other alleged Brady
violations may have to consider their cumulative materiality, if any, alongside the materiality
of the alleged Brady violations that are now properly before us.
97
No. 06-20885
Under the 2000 Sentencing Guidelines, Skilling had a base offense level
of 6, which the district court subsequently enhanced to 40. With a criminal
history category of I, that yielded a sentencing range under the Guidelines of 292
to 365 months’ imprisonment. Skilling objected to some of the enhancements at
sentencing. The court rejected those objections and sentenced Skilling at the
bottom of the advisory range, or 292 months. On appeal, Skilling specifically
objects to the two-level enhancement for obstruction of justice, pursuant to U.S.
SENTENCING GUIDELINES MANUAL (“U.S.S.G.”) § 3C1.1 (2000), and the four-level
enhancement for substantially jeopardizing the safety and soundness of a
financial institution, pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2F1.1(b)(8)(A) (2000). We review
the application and interpretation of the Guidelines de novo. United States v.
Solis-Garcia, 420 F.3d 511, 514 (5th Cir. 2005).
A. Obstruction of Justice
The court enhanced Skilling’s sentence pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3C1.182 for
obstruction of justice based on testimony Skilling gave to the SEC on December
6, 2001. Skilling stated that he had sold stock on September 17, 2001, solely
because of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The court determined
that this statement was perjury, because a preponderance of the evidence
showed that Skilling had tried to sell stock before the attacks, on September 6.
82
Section 3C1.1 provides,
If (A) the defendant willfully obstructed or impeded, or attempted to obstruct or
impede, the administration of justice during the course of the investigation, pro-
secution, or sentencing of the instant offense of conviction, and (B) the obstruc-
tive conduct related to (i) the defendant’s offense of conviction and any relevant
conduct; or (ii) a closely related offense, increase the offense level by 2 levels.
U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1.
98
No. 06-20885
The Sentencing Guidelines specifically mention perjury as a type of conduct that
constitutes obstruction of justice. U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1 cmt. 4(b).
Skilling does not argue, however, that the court erred in finding perjury
before the SEC. Rather, he reasons that the court could not use the testimony
at all because the SEC and the Department of Justice were improperly
collaborating.83
Skilling relies on United States v. Tweel, 550 F.2d 297, 299-300 (5th Cir.
1977), for the proposition that when an agency deliberately misleads someone
whom it is investigating, it invariably taints any consent that the person under
investigation provides, requiring suppression of the evidence. The Supreme
Court and other circuit courts have made similar statements.84 It follows that
if the district court should have suppressed the evidence of Skilling’s testimony
before the SEC, then § 3C1.1 cannot apply in this case. However, the case law
does not support the premise that the district court had to suppress this
evidence at sentencing.
Skilling avers that the district court believed that the Enron Task Force
and SEC had merged into one prosecutorial team and that the SEC had acted
on the Task Force’s behalf in connection with Skilling’s criminal case. Assuming
that they had in fact merged, and that by the time of his testimony the SEC was
deliberately misleading Skilling as to the nature of the investigation, the issue
83
The government suggests that Skilling waived this argument because he failed to
object to the use of this testimony at sentencing. Skilling counters by drawing our attention
to his written objections to the presentence investigation report, in which he disputed the
enhancement. In particular, he stated that because he “was not aware of an investigation
‘against him’ at the time he testified before the SEC, his testimony before that body cannot,
as a matter of law, trigger the obstruction adjustment.” We need not decide this issue, because
we find no error in the court invoking this enhancement.
84
See, e.g., United States v. Kordel, 397 U.S. 1, 11-13 (1970); United States v.
Grunewald, 987 F.2d 531, 534 (8th Cir. 1993); United States v. Robson, 477 F.2d 13, 18 (9th
Cir. 1973).
99
No. 06-20885
of whether the results of the investigation could be used at sentencing remains
open.
Ordinarily, a district court can consider illegally obtained evidence at
sentencing even if that evidence is not admissible at trial, United States v.
Robins, 978 F.2d 881, 891 (5th Cir. 1992), although there may be exceptions. For
example, we have approvingly cited Verdugo v. United States, 402 F.2d 599, 611-
12 (9th Cir. 1968), for the proposition that on a case-by-case basis, it might be
improper for a district court to consider certain evidence at sentencing. See
Robins, 978 F.2d at 891. This is particularly true where “the use of illegally
seized evidence at sentencing would provide a substantial incentive for
unconstitutional searches and seizures.” Verdugo, 402 F.2d at 613. In other
words, we may look, case-by-case, to whether the admission of the evidence will
encourage the government to obtain evidence illegally.
This principle cuts against Skilling. Admitting the evidence of his perjury
for purposes of sentencing will not encourage the government to conduct
improper parallel investigations or unconstitutional searches. The parallel-
investigation cases ordinarily involve a defendant who gives incriminating, but
truthful, testimony. See Tweel, 550 F.2d at 298 (providing copies of tax returns).
The reason for our concern in these cases is that the government should not use
deceit to encourage a defendant to cooperate in a civil investigation during which
he in essence incriminates himself. But where, as here, a defendant’s own false
testimony is used against him, we have no such concerns. After all, Skilling has
not provided us with any justification for his lying under oath in a purely civil
proceeding.
We therefore do not see a need to deviate from our general rule that, at
sentencing, “a district court may conduct an inquiry broad in scope, largely
unlimited either as to the kind of information it may consider, or the source from
100
No. 06-20885
which such information may come.” Robins, 978 F.2d at 891. Accordingly, the
district court did not err in using Skilling’s SEC testimony at sentencing.
B. Jeopardizing the Safety and Soundness of a Financial Institution
Skilling appeals the four-level enhancement for substantially jeopardizing
the safety and soundness of a “financial institution” pursuant to U.S.S.G.
§ 2F1.1(b)(8)(A) (2000). He urges that the enhancement is incorrect for two
reasons. First, he says that because the evidence at trial did not prove that his
conduct caused Enron’s bankruptcy, it was impossible to say that he
substantially jeopardized any financial institution. Second, he posits that the
Enron Corporation Savings Plan and the Employee Stock Ownership Plan
(collectively the “Retirement Plans”) are not “financial institutions” as that
phrase is used in § 2F1.1, so the section cannot apply at all. Because we agree
with the second contention, we do not reach the first.
We review the district court’s decision that the Retirement Plans are
“financial institutions” de novo, because it is an issue of law. United States v.
Soileau, 309 F.3d 877, 878-79 (5th Cir. 2002). The Guidelines section at issue,
§ 2F1.1(b)(8), provides, “If the offense (A) substantially jeopardized the safety
and soundness of a financial institution; . . . increase by 4 levels.” As used in the
Guidelines, “financial institution”
is defined to include any institution described in 18 U.S.C. §§ 20,
656, 657, 1005-1007, and 1014; any state or foreign bank, trust
company, credit union, insurance company, investment company,
mutual fund, savings (building and loan) association, union or
employee pension fund; any health, medical or hospital insurance
association; brokers and dealers registered, or required to be
registered, with the Securities and Exchange Commission; futures
commodity merchants and commodity pool operators registered, or
required to be registered, with the Commodity Futures Trading
Commission; and any similar entity, whether or not insured by the
federal government. “Union or employee pension fund” and “any
health, medical, or hospital insurance association,” as used above,
primarily include large pension funds that serve many individuals
101
No. 06-20885
(e.g., pension funds of large national and international
organizations, unions, and corporations doing substantial interstate
business), and associations that undertake to provide pension,
disability, or other benefits (e.g., medical or hospitalization
insurance) to large numbers of persons.
U.S.S.G. § 2F1.1 cmt. 19.
The definition does not explicitly mention retirement plans, such as the
two at issue here, even though neither is a particularly novel retirement vehicle.
The question is whether the Retirement Plans are “pension funds” or whether
they fall into the “any similar entity” catch-all.
The government, relying on BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY, argues that the
Retirement Plans are in fact “pension funds.” Black’s does not define “pension
fund” but does define “pension plan.” The government equates these terms, and
we see no reason not to do so as well. Black’s defines “pension plan” in two ways:
1. Under ERISA, any plan, fund, or program established or
maintained by an employer or an employee organization that
provides retirement income to employees or results in a deferral of
income by employees extending to the termination of employment
or beyond. 29 USCA § 1002(2)(A).
2. Under the Internal Revenue Code, an employer’s plan
established and maintained primarily to provide systematically for
the payment of definitely determinable benefits to employees over
a period of years, usu. for life, after retirement.
BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY 1170 (8th ed. 2004) (paragraph break added). This
definition, unfortunately, is unhelpful in settling the dispute at hand, and the
government tellingly cites only the ERISA portion.85 There is no doubt that,
under ERISA, the Retirement Plans are “pension funds,” because employees
contributed to them for the purpose of securing retirement income. On the other
85
Contrary to the government’s argument, Black’s defines “pension” as “[a] fixed sum
paid regularly to a person.” BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY 1170 (8th ed. 2004). This leads to the
assumption that a pension fund, or pension plan, without any statutory gloss, would be a plan
that promised a fixed sum at regular intervals. The Retirement Plans do not provide this.
102
No. 06-20885
hand, under the Internal Revenue Code, the plans were not established to pay
“definitely determinable benefits,” because these retirement accounts, by virtue
of being unguaranteed equity investments, were highly variable: no one was
guaranteed any rate of return. Nor is the elaboration of “[u]nion or employee
pension fund,” U.S.S.G. § 2F1.1 cmt. 19, helpful, because that definition still
does not define “pension fund.”
If the Retirement Plans are not “pension funds,” another option is to
determine whether the Retirement Plans fall into the Guidelines’ “any similar
entity” catch-all. In the government’s favor, the definition lists mutual funds,
which, like the Retirement Plans, also do not provide determined benefits.
This analogy is unhelpful, however, because the other examples in the
definition, with the exception of “pension funds,” which the Guidelines do not
pellucidly define, are specific and individual financial entities. The definition
speaks, inter alia, of entities that must be registered with the SEC or the
Commodities Futures Trading Commission, banks, trust companies, and credit
unions. U.S.S.G. § 2F1.1 cmt. 19. Additionally, we have already held that
Medicare is not a financial institution, even though it might have features
similar to some of the explicitly enumerated institutions, such as private
insurance associations. See Soileau, 309 F.3d at 881 (holding that the
enhancement should not apply because the definition does not explicitly mention
Medicare). If anything, this cautions us against extending the definition without
convincing evidence.
Under the government’s position, any large corporation would become a
financial institution just by virtue of providing its employees with a
tax-sanctioned retirement account. If that account is a “pension fund,” then
placing that fund in jeopardy would, of course, lead to the application of this
enhancement. We are unprepared to declare every corporate retirement vehicle
a “financial institution.”
103
No. 06-20885
Even if the government has presented a reasonable interpretation of the
enhancement, the rule of lenity counsels that we must resolve any doubts in the
interpretation of a criminal provision in favor of the defendant. United States
v. Cuellar, 478 F.3d 282, 300 (5th Cir. 2007) (en banc) (Smith, J., dissenting),
majority rev’d on other grounds, 128 S. Ct. 1994 (2008). Because both sides have
made reasonable arguments as to the meaning of “financial institution,” this
case falls within the rule, and we resolve any doubts in favor of Skilling. The
court therefore erred in applying this enhancement.
In sum, although the district court properly applied the obstruction of
justice enhancement, it incorrectly applied an enhancement for substantially
jeopardizing a “financial institution.” Accordingly, we vacate Skilling’s sentence
and remand for resentencing.
IX. Conclusion
Skilling failed to demonstrate that the government’s case rested on an
incorrect theory of law or that any reversible errors infected his trial.
Accordingly, we AFFIRM Skilling’s convictions in all respects. We VACATE
Skilling’s sentence and REMAND for resentencing.
104