CHICAGO - FORMER Enron chief executive officer Jeffrey Skilling lost his bid to overturn a conviction for fraud and conspiracy, but a federal appeals court on Tuesday granted him a chance for a new sentence.

Skilling was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison after he was convicted in May of 2006 of 19 counts of conspiracy, fraud and insider trading in one of the biggest corporate scandals in US history.

He was also ordered to forfeit about US$45 million (S$66 million) in assets, including his home.

A federal appeals court ruled in a 105-page opinion that while Skilling's trial was fair, the judge did not properly apply sentencing guidelines and ordered a new sentencing hearing.

Skilling will remain in custody while awaiting the hearing.

Enron's spectacular collapse in 2001, then the largest corporate bankruptcy in history with more than US$40 billion in outstanding debt, came to epitomise corporate greed in the heady days of the Internet boom.

Skilling and Enron founder Kenneth Lay hid company losses and hyped the stock's value while selling their own shares on the sly.

Lay died of heart failure in July 2006 before he could be sentenced and his conviction on 10 counts of fraud, conspiracy and banking violations was thrown out because his death prevented him from appealing the verdict. -- AFP