Former Enron chief executive Ken Lay has died of a heart attack.
Lay talks outside of a courthouse after the close of his bank fraud trial in May
He died after taking ill at his holiday home in Colorado, according to reports.
Lay (64) and another former Enron boss Jeffrey Skilling were found guilty by a Texas jury in May of fraud and conspiracy in one of the biggest corporate scandals in American history.
Lay was found guilty of all six counts against him and Judge Sim Lake also convicted the Enron founder on separate charges of bank fraud and he faced a sentence of up to 165 years in prison. He was due to be sentenced, along with Skilling, on September 11th next.
Once America's seventh largest company, the energy trading company collapsed in December 2001 after it emerged that an estimated $40 billion of debts had been hidden in secret accounts to protect the firm's core balance sheet.
Enron had more than $68 billion in market value before its bankruptcy wiped out more than 5,000 jobs and at least $1 billion in retirement funds.
"Ken Lay passed away early this morning in Aspen," a Lay family spokeswoman said in a statement earlier.
Lay, once a confidant of former President George H.W. Bush and dubbed "Kenny boy" by President George W. Bush, often appeared fatigued during the four-month trial, but there was no indication that he had suffered any adverse health effects.
Enron started as a quiet pipeline company and under Lay's guidance grew into an international energy powerhouse, but imploded in a wave of accounting scandals.
Pitkin County sheriff's deputies and an ambulance were dispatched to the Lay vacation home early this morning and transported him to Aspen Valley Hospital. He was pronounced dead there shortly after 3am local time.
"A coroner's autopsy is pending. There will be no further information or press release from this office, until autopsy results are available later this week," the county said in a statement.