Fast Facts: Enron Trial

HOUSTON – A verdict has been reached in the Houston trial of former Enron chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling.

The Company

— Was once the nation's seventh-largest company

— Considered an innovative new-economy maverick and admired as a top stock performer

The Scandal

— Collapse cost thousands of jobs and billions in losses.

— Enron's crash and scandals sent investors fleeing, prompted stiffened white-collar penalties and upped regulatory scrutiny over publicly traded companies.

The Trial

— Biggest fraud case to emerge from the scandal

— Lasted 16 weeks and featured 54 witnesses for both sides

— Lay and Skilling testified in their own defense

Prosecution

— Says Lay and Skilling felt rules didn't apply to them

— Says they used "half-truths, omissions and outright lies"

— Asked jury of eight women and four men to convict on all counts

Defense

— Contends that most of the eight ex-Enron executives who cut plea deals and testified against them admitted to crimes they didn't commit

— That executives lied about the defendants' culpability in hopes of gaining lenient punishments

The Charges

— Skilling faces 28 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors.

— Lay faces six counts of fraud and conspiracy stemming mostly from the period after he resumed as CEO upon Skilling's departure in 2001.

— Both pleaded not guilty.

— If convicted, they could face decades in prison and millions of dollars in penalties.