in the case against Forbes returned on January 4, 2005. While they did convict another defendant, they failed to reach a verdict on the charges against Forbes. Forbes was found guilty of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and two counts of making false statements at a third trial on October 31, 2006. Bernard J. Ebbers In this case, Bernard J. "Bernie" Ebbers, former WorldCom CEO, claimed that $11 billion in fraud was committed by the company's CFO, Scott D. Sullivan, and other subordinates without Ebbers's knowledge. During his criminal trial, Ebbers testified, "I was shocked. I couldn't believe it, I never thought anything like that would have gone on. I put those people in place. I trusted them. I had no idea they would do anything like this." The prosecutor referred to this as the "aw shucks defense." Ebbers was convicted of all charges on March 15, 2005. Richard M. Scrushy Richard M. Scrushy, founder and former CEO of HealthSouth, became the first CEO to be charged with violating the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Scrushy's defense lawyer, Jim Parkman, asked during the trial, "That's what y'all did and how you planned it, so (Scrushy) wouldn't know what the whole picture was?" Scrushy was found not guilty of all charges on June 28, 2005. But the idiot defense was not believed to have been the reason he was acquitted; instead, the prosecution apparently lacked enough courtroom-admissible evidence to make its case against him. He was later convicted by a Federal court on 30 additional charges. Kenneth L. Lay Kenneth L. Lay was indicted on charges of securities fraud, wire fraud, and making false and misleading statements in relation to the Enron collapse. In a 60 Minutes interview before his trial, Lay said, "I don't think I'm a fool. But I think I sure was fooled." He also added, "But I can't take responsibility for the criminal conduct of someone inside the company." Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were convicted on many of the charges. Other uses Barry Bonds' admission of possible steroid use, and claim that he was unaware of any steroids at the time, have also been described as an idiot defense. See also Shaggy defense Twinkie defense References Court documents United States of America vs. Bernard J Ebbers, United States District Court Southern District of New York, Indictment S3 02 Cr. 1144 (BSJ) United States of America vs. Kenneth L. Lay, et