Bad Kitty

How could I have possibly missed the connection?

In the wake of Kenneth Lays' sentencing this morning, an interesting factoid came to my attention - Kenneth Lay is a Mizzou alum.

Yes, that's right dear Chophouse purveyors, the University of Missouri has added one more fine felonious feline to it's litigious litany of litter. Clemens. Page. Snyder. Pinkel. Lay. It's as if the X-Men's arch-nemesis, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, has taken-up permanent residence in our neighboring "Show-me State."

Noted below is an announcement from the Mizzou Department of Education on May 22, 2006.

MU-ow... I mean meow.

A Statement from the University of Missouri regarding Kenneth L. Lay Chair in Economics

The University of Missouri-Columbia received a donation of $1.1 million from Mr. Kenneth L. Lay in 1999 to establish an endowed chair in international economics named for Mr. Lay. In 2002, Mr. Lay asked and the University agreed to change the endowment’s name to the Kenneth L. Lay Chair in Economics.

When Mr. Lay made his donation, about two years before the public collapse of Enron, he signed an agreement stating the money was an irrevocable gift to the publicly-owned University of Missouri. Once Mr. Lay donated the money, it became a University asset. The agreement signed by Mr. Lay included no provision for returning the money to him under any circumstance. It also imposed no timetable for filling the economics chair.

The University has advertised the economics chair nationally and has continued its search for an outstanding scholar to fill this position. The Lay Chair has not yet been filled. Offers were extended by the University to three different scholars between March 2000 and March 2003. All three scholars declined the offer after their institutions made counter-offers.

On Sept. 2, 2005, Mr. Lay wrote a letter to Dr. Brady Deaton, Chancellor of the University of Missouri-Columbia, requesting that Mr. Lay’s donation establishing the economics chair instead be sent to 14 charitable organizations to assist with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts around Houston, Texas. Mr. Lay resides in Houston, the site of his federal jury trial. It should be noted that the University of Missouri has continually demonstrated its sympathy to the plight of Hurricane Katrina’s victims, opening its four campuses to Gulf Coast college students displaced by the hurricane and its aftermath.

Dr. Deaton replied in telephone conversations with Mr. Lay that he would recommend to University President Elson S. Floyd that the University release the donation. The Chancellor did follow through in making this recommendation.

However, the Office of the University’s General Counsel, after conferring with the University administration and in consultation with outside legal counsel and the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, concluded there were legal questions concerning the appropriateness of returning gift funds.

Following up on Mr. Lay’s Sept. 2 request in telephone conversations, Columbia campus officials could not reach agreement with Mr. Lay on possible alternative uses within the University of Missouri for his donation. On Feb. 3, 2006, the University of Missouri’s General Counsel met in Columbia with the Texas-based trustee of a legal trust into which assets of Mr. and Mrs. Lay have been placed. The trustee stated that the assets of the trust were to be used to pay legal fees for Mr. Lay. There was no mention by the trustee of sending any of the Lay donation to charities for hurricane relief.

The University of Missouri Board of Curators has been kept informed by President Floyd and the General Counsel about the Lay donation, including Mr. Lay’s Sept. 2 request and the University’s response.

Mr. Lay’s case stemming from the collapse of Enron is in the judicial system. The University will not speculate regarding possible outcomes in the courts.