Ken Lay’s sudden death of a heart attack on July 5 occurred before the former Enron CEO had exhausted his appeals. For that reason, his lawyers can move to have his conviction on fraud and conspiracy charges to be struck from the record. The government would then be unable to seize his remaining assets, although said assets could still become a target for civil actions.

The legacies of corporate buccaneers were not always so tangled. When financier J.P. Morgan died in 1913, he left behind a will that read roughly as follows: “I leave my soul to my Savior. All the rest, residue and remainder of my estate I give and bequeath to my son, John.”

The terms of this terse will were widely reported by the newspapers of the day, and drew an acid comment from noted lawyer and freethinker Clarence Darrow: “The Savior got his soul and his son got his money. I should say that was one time at least when the Savior got the worst of it.”