Frantic for a way out, Lay decided to secretly take advantage of a little-known quirk surrounding executive loans: they can at times be paid off by selling stock back to the company. What’s more, unlike regular executive stock sales, which have to be disclosed almost at once, these sales don’t have to be disclosed until after the end of the year. Back in May 1999, Lay had modified his loan agreement to include this loophole; starting in November 2000, Lay began repeatedly drawing down a $4 million line of credit he had with Enron, using it to pay off his creditors and then repaying the loan by
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