Kenneth Lay has died of a heart attack.
The 64-year-old former chairman of Enron, who was recently convicted of all six charges against him for his role in the one-time energy giant’s collapse, was scheduled to be sentenced later in the year.
He had faced a prison term that could have exceeded 30 years.
Lay died Tuesday evening of a massive coronary in his family’s home in Aspen, Colorado, according to CNBC.
His death raises a number of legal questions, including what possible impact it may have on the sentencing of former Enron chief executive officer Jeff Skilling, who was convicted along with Lay in the same trial.
Lay also faced a wide array of civil claims that will be affected by his death. And, on Friday, the Associated Press reported that federal prosecutors were seeking nearly $183 million from Lay and Skilling in light of their convictions.
“The bonuses, the stock transactions of Skilling and the manipulation of the line of credit by Lay all generated proceeds that would not have existed but for the fraud scheme,” a court filing reportedly said.