????上周有報道稱，前安然（Enron）CEO、大詐騙犯杰夫?斯基林可能將獲得多達10年的減刑。但這樣大幅減刑的真正原因并非像一些媒體報道的那樣。

????斯基林當初獲刑之重超過了大多數(shù)的白領(lǐng)罪犯，僅次于 WorldCom的伯尼?埃博斯。報道稱，如果這次能獲得休斯頓聯(lián)邦法院法官西姆?雷克的批準（雷克從2006年以來就一直主審斯基林的刑事指控案),斯基林的刑期可能從24年降至14年。[當時，《財富》雜志（Fortune）將這一判決稱為“美國商業(yè)史上的里程碑”。]

????由于表現(xiàn)良好并參加了一項戒毒戒酒計劃，現(xiàn)年59歲且已服刑6年的斯基林可能還可另獲兩年半減刑，到65歲左右時，就可以走出監(jiān)獄，獲得自由身了。在減刑的同時，斯基林被查封的4,000多萬美元資產(chǎn)將解凍，補償給安然案的財務受害人，而且斯基林必須放棄上訴。

????但是，大幅減刑并非主要是政府與辯護律師的協(xié)商結(jié)果，而是美國第五巡回上訴法庭（Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals）2009年做出的一項判決。

????了解真相，就不會猜測什么被告方可能拿到了一些有力的底牌，比如公訴不端等，就不會猜測可能只是雙方尋求做個了結(jié)。

????“今天的協(xié)議將為圍繞此案的法律訴訟戰(zhàn)畫上句號，”美國司法部發(fā)言人在聲明中表示。“斯基林先生不能再提起上訴，必須接受對這樁美國歷史上最臭名昭著的欺詐案的判決，而受害人也終將獲得他們應得的4,000多萬美元補償。”

????這些年來，斯基林一直在獄中服刑（他現(xiàn)在被關(guān)押在丹佛市郊一座低警戒度監(jiān)獄內(nèi)），他的父母以及他三個子女中最小的一個都已離世。即便他能在最短時間內(nèi)出獄，他的服刑時間也將是其他安然被告人的兩倍。（排名第二的是前安然首席財務官安迪?法斯托，已于服刑約5年后出獄。）

????斯基林的首席辯護律師丹尼爾?彼得羅切利在一份聲明中表示，這項擬達成的協(xié)議“將終結(jié)一場漫長而痛苦的訴訟征程…杰夫至少將有機會重獲一段有意義的生命。”

????“這就是最終結(jié)局，”代理了多位安然客戶(包括前安然副總裁莎朗?沃特金斯)的休斯頓前聯(lián)邦檢察官菲爾?希爾德表示，“已經(jīng)到收益遞減轉(zhuǎn)折點。”

????讓我們來回顧一下。最初，斯基林經(jīng)過4個月的庭審后于2006年5月定罪。（前安然董事長肯尼斯?萊也定罪了，但六周后死于心臟病突發(fā)。）根據(jù)使用評分系統(tǒng)的聯(lián)邦審判指導標準，以斯基林的罪行和背景計算，為36級。雷克法官給“升”了4級，理由是危害“金融機構(gòu)”的安全與健康。這一激進的判決將安然的雇員退休金計劃定義為一個“金融機構(gòu)”，評分由此提高至40級，量刑年限292-365個月。雷克判定斯基林入獄24年零4個月，這樣的刑期處于量刑下限。

????Last week brought reports of a deal to chop as much as a decade off the prison term of Jeff Skilling, the former Enron CEO and convicted fraudster. But the real reason for the dramatic sentence reduction is different than some of the media coverage has suggested.

????Skilling's unusually stiff sentence -- exceeded in the pantheon of white-collar crime only by WorldCom's Bernie Ebbers -- could be cut from 24 years and four months to as little as 14 years if the agreement is approved by Houston federal judge Sim Lake, who presided over Skilling's criminal trial back in 2006. (At the time, Fortune called the trial "a milestone in American business history.")

????With credit for good time and a drug and alcohol program, Skilling, who is 59 and has served six years already, could get another two and a half years off, freeing him from prison by his mid-60s. The deal will also release more than $40 million in assets seized from Skilling, to be distributed to Enron's financial victims, and will require him to abandon his appeals.

????The bulk of the proposed sentence reduction, however, results not from last week's negotiated agreement between the government and defense lawyers, but from a 2009 decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

????Knowing the real story eliminates the prospect that the defense had some powerful new card to play, such as prosecutorial misconduct -- and suggests that it was instead simply a matter of both sides seeking closure.

????"Today's agreement will put an end to the legal battles surrounding this case," a Justice Department spokesman said in a statement. "Mr. Skilling will no longer be permitted to challenge his conviction for one of the most notorious frauds in American history, and victims of his crime will finally receive more than $40 million in restitution they are owed."

????During the time Skilling has been in prison (he's now incarcerated at a low-security facility outside Denver), both his parents and the youngest of his three children have died. Even if he gets out in the minimum time possible, he will have served twice as long as any other Enron defendant. (Ranking second is former Enron CFO Andy Fastow, who was released after about five years in prison.)

????In a statement, Skilling's lead defense attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, said the proposed agreement "brings certainty and finality to a long, painful process … Jeff will at least have the chance to get back a meaningful part of his life."

????"This is all about finality," says Houston lawyer Phil Hilder, a former federal prosecutor who has represented several Enron clients, including Sherron Watkins. "There comes a point of diminishing returns."

????Here's what happened. Skilling was originally convicted in May 2006, after a four-month trial. (Former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay was also convicted, but died of a heart attack six weeks later.) Under federal sentencing guidelines, which use a points system, Skilling's offenses and background put him at a level 36. Judge Lake added a four-level "enhancement" for jeopardizing the safety and soundness of a "financial institution." This aggressive ruling -- which defined Enron's employee retirement plans as a "financial institution" -- boosted his level to 40, with a range of 292 to 365 months. Lake's sentence of 24 years and four months was at the minimum of that guideline.