"The betting is it's going to get a bit of a haircut,"

Supreme Court Will Hear Jeff Skilling's Appeal
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will take up former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's appeal of his convictions for his role in the collapse of the energy giant, accepting another high-profile challenge to a favorite tool of prosecutors in white-collar and public corruption cases.

Skilling's appeal stems from his convictions in 2006 on 19 counts of conspiracy, securities fraud, insider trading and lying to auditors involving the 2001 collapse of Enron.

The justices already are entertaining similar claims from former newspaper magnate Conrad Black and a former Alaska lawmaker ensnared in a public corruption scandal.

At issue in all three cases is prosecutors' use of the federal "honest services" fraud statute, a 28-word law that critics call vague and unfair. Among the federal charges against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is an "honest services" count, while his predecessor, former Gov. George Ryan was convicted of it.

The law makes it a crime to deprive shareholders or the public of "the intangible right to honest services."

Former federal prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg said the court probably will rein in the use of the law. "The betting is it's going to get a bit of a haircut," said Zeidenberg, who prosecuted some public officials for honest services fraud.

Zeidenberg, now a partner at the DLA Piper law firm in Washington, acknowledged that it is easier to prove honest services fraud than bribery, which typically requires demonstration that some promise was made or action was taken in exchange for money.

"I think a lot of defense attorneys would say it's a refuge for prosecutions that otherwise don't measure up," he said.
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