The Supreme Court on Thursday cast doubt on the convictions of former Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling and former media tycoon Conrad Black, in decisions that could have consequences for federal prosecutions in fraud cases nationwide.
The justices unanimously scaled back an anti-fraud law regularly invoked by federal prosecutors that makes it a crime to deprive the public or shareholders of the "intangible right to honest services." The court, in opinions by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, said the law could be used only against bribes and kickbacks.
The justices threw out part of Skilling's conviction related to the 2001 collapse of the energy trading giant, yet it also, by a 6-3 vote, rejected Skilling's claim that his Houston jury was tainted by prejudice. Separately, the justices invalidated part of Black's conviction.
In both of the cases, however, the justices sent the cases back for further hearings and left open the possibility that other parts of their convictions would keep them behind bars
