Friends Say Ex-Chief Despairs, Seeking Someone to Believe Him
By David Barboza
Houston, Aug. 17 — A year after he resigned as chief executive of Enron, Jeffrey K. Skilling — who once bragged that he was building the world's leading company — is a portrait of despair.
According to friends and former colleagues, Mr. Skilling, 48, spends most days here secluded in his 9,000-square-foot, Mediterranean-style house, a trophy home that he tells people he wishes had never been built.
When he ventures out, it is often to swanky bars like Zimm's, a favored retreat of Houston's cigar-smoking young professionals, where he drinks white wine or gin for hours.
When people see him, he invariably asks them the same questions: "Do you believe me? Do you believe what I've said about Enron?"
The problem for Mr. Skilling is that many people don't. They don't believe that he suddenly left Enron last August for personal reasons, though he has said so repeatedly, even under oath in Congressional testimony last winter. They also don't believe that he thought Enron was in strong financial shape when he quit. Or that the company's accounting scandals were as much a surprise to him as anyone else.
So, Mr. Skilling has devoted countless hours to reliving his last days at Enron, friends say. He tabulates financial details on note pads and he diagrams old balance sheets, constructing a narrative that does not make him out to be a chief villain in Enron's downfall. More than one former Enron colleague compares him to Charles Foster Kane, the fallen hero of "Citizen Kane" who grows increasingly isolated and depressed, caged in the splendor of his huge estate.
"He's been crushed," said Mr. Skilling's younger brother, Mark, a lawyer who lives in Turkey. "I can tell you firsthand, these last few months, there's been nothing close to it in his life."
[http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/22/business/22SKIL.html]
Carl
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