A jury in the United States Thursday convicted two former, top Enron executives of fraud and conspiracy.
Former Enron chief executive Jeff Skilling and company founder and chairman Ken Lay were accused of lying about the precarious state of the energy company's finances to fool investors.
The jury in Houston, Texas, cleared Skilling of some of the insider trading charges he faced. A separate trial without a jury also convicted Lay of bank fraud.
Enron's 2001 collapse into bankruptcy cost investors and employees billions of dollars and thousands of jobs.
Skilling and Lay will be sentenced next September and may face decades in prison. Skilling's lawyer says he will appeal the convictions.
Prosecutor Sean Berkowitz says the verdict sends a message to corporate executives that they will be held accountable if they lie to shareholders.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
