Kenneth Lay was an American businessman, best known for his role in the widely reported corruption scandal that led to the downfall of Enron Corporation. Lay and Enron became synonymous with corporate abuse and accounting fraud when the scandal broke in 2001.

Kenneth Lay was an American businessman, best known for his role in the widely reported corruption scandal that led to the downfall of Enron Corporation. Lay and Enron became synonymous with corporate abuse and accounting fraud when the scandal broke in 2001.

-) For this paper, you will first need to read the biography of Kenneth Lay .Once you have read the biography, you will need to identify at least 2 theories discussed in the course so far. Your paper will include a description of the theory PLUS a direct comparison from Lays biography that illustrates clearly why the theory you chose explains his criminal activity. The explanation of the theory with examples from Lays life should be abundantly clear.

-)This paper should be a minimum of two pages of written text (not to include the cover page and reference page), double spaced, and should include a minimum of three academically credible references (the textbook may count as one academic reference).
YES, I EXPECT TO SEE YOU CITING AT LEAST 2 JOURNAL ARTICLES, NOT WEBSITES.
-)Sources should be cited within the text and on the reference page using standard APA format.

-)Kenneth Lay Biography:
Kenneth Lee “Ken” Lay
(April 15, 1942 July 5, 2006) was an American businessman, best known for his role in the
widely reported corruption scandal that led to the downfall of Enron Corporation. Lay and Enron
became synonymous with corporate abuse and accounting fraud when the scandal broke in 2001.
Lay was the CEO and chairman of Enron from 1985 until his resignation on January 23, 2002,
except for a few months in 2000 when he was chairman and Jeffrey Skilling was chief executive
officer (CEO).
On July 7, 2004, Lay was indicted by a grand jury on 11 counts of securities fraud and related
charges. On January 31, 2006, following four and a half years of preparation by government
prosecutors, Lay’s and Skilling’s trial began in Houston. Lay was found guilty on May 25, 2006,
of 10 counts against him; the judge dismissed the 11th. Because each count carried a maximum
5- to 10-year sentence, legal experts said Lay could have faced 20 to 30 years in prison.
However, he died while vacationing in Snowmass, Colorado on July 5, 2006, about three and a
half months before his scheduled October 23 sentencing. Preliminary autopsy reports state that
he died of a heart attack caused by coronary artery disease. As a result of his death, on October
17, 2006, the federal district court judge who presided over the case vacated Lay’s conviction.
There have been conspiracy theories surrounding his death.
Early life and career
Lay was born in Tyrone, Missouri, the son of Ruth (ne Rees) and Omer Lay. His father was a
Baptist preacher and some-time tractor salesman. When Lay was a child, he delivered
newspapers and mowed lawns. Early on, he moved to Columbia, Missouri and attended David H.
Hickman High School and the University of Missouri where he studied economics, receiving a
B.A. in 1964 and an M.A. in 1965. He served as president of the Zeta Phi chapter of the Beta
Theta Pi fraternity at the University of Missouri. He went on to earn his Ph.D. in economics from
the University of Houston in 1970 and soon after went to work at Exxon Mobil Corp., the
successor to Humble Oil & Refining.
Lay worked in the early 1970s as a federal energy regulator. He then became undersecretary for
the Department of the Interior before he returned to the business world as an executive at Florida
Gas Transmission. By the time energy was deregulated in the 1980s, Lay was already an energy
company executive and he took advantage of the new climate when Omaha-based Internorth
bought his company Houston Natural Gas and changed the name to Enron in 1985. The much
larger, better capitalized and more diversified Internorth was then used as an asset to propel his
efforts at Enron. He also was a member of the board of directors of Eli Lilly and Company.
Lay was one of America’s highest-paid CEOs, earning a $42.4 million compensation package in
1999. In December 2000, Lay was mentioned as a possible candidate for President Bush’s
Treasury secretary along with J.P. Morgan & Co. head Douglas A. Warner III and a few others.
Lay dumped large amounts of his Enron stock in September and October 2001 as its price fell,
while encouraging employees to buy more stock, telling them the company would rebound. Lay
liquidated more than $300 million in Enron stock from 1998 to 2001, mostly in stock options. As
the scandal unfolded, Lay insisted he wanted to “tell his story,” but later reneged on a promise to
testify to Congress, taking the Fifth instead.

Textbook: Criminological Theory: The Essentials 3rd Edition
by Stephen G. Tibbetts

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