Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay, the two defendants charged with fraud at Enron, are taking the high road. There was no fraud at Enron. The company was in strong financial shape almost to the end, but it was undone by a run on the bank triggered by short-sellers, negative press and an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. That is their story and they are sticking to it.

With no hard evidence of the defendants’ wrong-doing, the Government has rested its case on the testimony of 22 witnesses, many of them former Enron employees. Their story is not one of a company wronged but of a fraudulent enterprise whose ill-gotten gains enriched the defendants. The jury must now decide: will it believe the 22 Government witnesses or will it believe Skilling and Lay? It is a fight for credibility. The Government alleges that: