Skilling v. United States and the First Big Cutback on Honest‑Services Fraud
After Enron collapsed, prosecutors charged CEO Jeffrey Skilling with, among other things, depriving shareholders of his “honest services.” In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that the honest‑services statute could constitutionally cover only clear bribery and kickback schemes, not vague self‑dealing theories, forcing courts to pare back some high‑profile convictions.
Skilling’s honest‑services conviction was vacated, and several other white‑collar cases were reopened or dropped.
The decision pushed DOJ to lean harder on traditional bribery, wire‑fraud and securities‑fraud theories—and set the stage for later rulings like Percoco and Ciminelli.
Lopez’s case sits in the same lineage of honest‑services battles, with courts again deciding how far prosecutors can stretch corruption statutes.