Kenneth Lay
American businessman and former CEO of EnronWikipedia
48
MENTIONS
23
EPISODES
21
PODCASTS
Search complete. 48 mentions across 23 episodes found for "Kenneth Lay".
Oct 26, 2026
Sean FergusonHOST
Yeah.
Sean FergusonHOST
okay, you're describing Ken Lay.
Sean FergusonHOST
So Ken Lay was the CEO of that company, and that's what he was to everybody that worked there.
Sean FergusonHOST
They loved Ken Lay because he was with the people at work every day.
Sean FergusonHOST
I mean, just, he was in it with them, you know, and creating an amazing culture.
Sean FergusonHOST
And then he obviously didn't know the tomfoolery that was going on in the back, you know, on the backside of it.
Sean FergusonHOST
And it cost him.
Sean FergusonHOST
But To Ken Lay's point and him being a very natural leader, all the employees at Enron, any extra money they had, they bought Enron stock with it.
Glenn NaughtonHOST
Just call the Jets the Enrons.
Glenn NaughtonHOST
What was that guy's name? Kenneth Lay? Man, the New York Enrons.
Glenn NaughtonHOST
Just get the number one pick.
Glenn NaughtonHOST
I think that might be too late already.
JohnHOST
And Enron was literally just a sham company on a sham company.
JohnHOST
I don't want to get into Kenneth Lay and Schilling and all that.
JohnHOST
It just disgusts me to no end.
JohnHOST
Okay, but let's move off that.
Steve JohnsonHOST
He ain't
Kenny WebsterHOST
the dead one, huh? That was Ken Lay?
Steve JohnsonHOST
Yeah, someone else died.
Steve JohnsonHOST
Oh, or maybe he died.
NathanHOST
OK, so Enron was a oil and gas business.
NathanHOST
And so there was Ken Lay was the CEO.
NathanHOST
Jeff Skilling was like the president.
NathanHOST
And and then Andy Fasta was the chief financial officer.
Larry KatzmanGUEST
Uh, George W. Bush was the president.
Larry KatzmanGUEST
His biggest contributor to his campaign was Ken Lay, who was the CEO and chairman of Enron, and they were very close.
Larry KatzmanGUEST
In fact, Ken Lay flew him around in his, in his plane while he was trying to run for office.
Larry KatzmanGUEST
And, and also, um, George W. Bush, I'm very familiar with him.
Larry KatzmanGUEST
I said I worked in Dallas, and when I was in the Dallas office I knew him when he was governor of Texas.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.GUEST
Because, uh, listen.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.GUEST
Why do you think that on the news, on the nightly news every night, you're seeing Brad Pitt and Angela Jolie and Michael Jackson and the Duke lacrosse team and Monica Lewinsky rather than, you know, the stories we ought to be reading about Ken Lay and global warming and, you know, all these questions that should've been asked about Iraq? People today, most of them, Americans know more about Brad and Angelina than they do about, uh, global warming.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.GUEST
The reason for that is because we abolished, Ronald Reagan in 1988 abolished the fairness doctrine, got rid of the obligation that the broadcasters, that the n- that the airwaves be used to promote the public interest and advance American democracy.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.GUEST
So the broadcasters who run these networks now no longer have an obligation to s- promote the public interest.
JenHOST
Mm-hmm.
KristenHOST
So you had Ken Lay, who ultimately, like, he didn't exactly start the company.
KristenHOST
He was working for, um, I think it was you said InterNorth.
KristenHOST
Was it InterNorth who did the acquisition?
KristenHOST
He does take on, um, the CEO role for a very short period of time.
KristenHOST
And then there was a, the, the last guy who's, like, there's the three names that you'll probably hear of, um, anytime people talk about Enron.
KristenHOST
Again, Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and then Andy Fastow.
KristenHOST
Andy Fastow was ultimately the CFO, where a lot of the trickery happens.
Jameson PittsHOST
It's in August 2001, Skilling resigns, CEO resigns.
Jameson PittsHOST
Ken Lay takes over, the original founder and chairman.
Jameson PittsHOST
He comes back.
Jameson PittsHOST
And it's when, around this time also, that a woman named Sharon Watkins begins to notice some of these issues.
Jameson PittsHOST
accounting practices.
Jameson PittsHOST
So Sharon writes a memo to Ken Lay and is like, hey, look, we have been engaged in fraud, which Ken Lay ignores.
Jameson PittsHOST
Famously in the documentary, the quote she said is, I can't believe Arthur Anderson signed off on this.
Leigh LeporeHOST
We reached out to Sharon Watkins, former vice president of corporate development at Enron and the ultimate whistleblower and did not hear back from her.
13 more episodes mention Kenneth Lay.
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