The head of the US financial regulator has hailed the conviction of former Enron executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling as 'a victory for the shareholders and employees of Enron, and the American public'.

SEC chairman Christopher Cox applauded the work of the Department of Justice, the Enron task force, the FBI and the trail team for obtaining guilty verdicts on 26 of the 34 charges of conspiracy and fraud laid against the former chairman and chief executive of the collapsed energy giant.

'The verdict makes clear that high-level corporate executives who deceive the investing public for personal gain will be held fully accountable,' said Cox. 'The result in the Enron criminal trial is a victory for all Americans, whose jobs and economic security depend on the integrity of our capital markets.'