Enron Corporation founder Kenneth Lay will appear in court again today as he attempts to defend himself against charges of fraud and conspiracy.
Mr Lay, who founded Enron in 1985, will speak for himself.
For the past two weeks, the trial's focus rested on his co-defendant, former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling's often contentious testimony. The pair has presented a unified defence, so Mr Lay aims to build on what Mr Skilling already told jurors - that Enron was no bed of fraud and that both are innocent of any wrongdoing.
The government contends both men lied repeatedly to investors and employees when they touted an increasingly weak company as strong before Enron swiftly spiralled into bankruptcy protection in December 2001.
The failure of what was once the country's seventh-largest company left thousands jobless and wiped out billions from investors.
The 28 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors against Mr Skilling span 1999 through his abrupt resignation in mid-August 2001 after succeeding Mr Lay as chief executive for only six months.
Mr Lay's six counts of fraud and conspiracy largely focus on his actions between Mr Skilling's resignation and the company's failure.
Unlike Mr Skilling, Mr Lay is not charged with improper stock sales, but his credibility could be damaged by his heavy usage of his line of credit with Enron in the months before the company failed to repay his personal bank loans.
Mr Lay repaid more than $70 million in company loans with Enron stock throughout 2001. He had used Enron stock as collateral for personal bank loans, which he has said he had to repay because banks issued margin calls as the company's share price fell.
However, he didn't tell employees of those sales as he encouraged them to buy more stock in September 2001.
AP