And so we have come to this. Lawyers for the late Ken Lay have commenced proceedings to try and clear the former Enron's chairman's name, reports the Houston Chronicle.

Lay, who died in July of heart disease, was convicted but a final judgement was never passed because he had not yet been sentenced and he had not gone through the appeals process.

Assuming the court clears his name, it will create problems for civil actions against Enron. It also means there will be no closure on one of the most notorious and difficult fraud cases that hurt so many people.

I elaborate on these points in this piece that I wrote at the time of his death.

As the headline says, there is no doubt that in death, as in life, Lay cheated his detractors. His lawyers are there to lend a hand.

Still, there are some calling for us to forgive him. Like Professor Denis Collins from Edgewood College in Wisconsin. Ken Lay deserves our sympathy, Collins writes in The Capital Times.

Somehow, I doubt that will cut much ice with Lay's former investors and employees.