[JURIST] Kenneth Lay [personal website; Houston Chronicle profile], former CEO and founder of Enron [corporate website; JURIST news archive], told a jury Monday that the collapse of the company in 2001 has caused him "hurt and destruction and pain" on a level that compares, he said, to “absolutely nothing in my life.” Lay and another former Enron CEO, Jeffrey Skilling [Houston Chronicle profile], have been charged [indictment, PDF] with multiple counts of fraud and criminal conspiracy for providing investors with false and misleading financial information from 1999 up until Enron filed bankruptcy in late 2001.

Skilling testified [JURIST report] in his own defense earlier this month, spending eight days on the stand [JURIST report] and vowing to "fight those charges until the day I die." He also told jurors that former employees who testified against himself and Lay did so only to cut deals with the prosecution. AP has more.