BRIEFCASE.

Byline: -- Staff and Wire Services

EchoStar income falls 80 percent

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- EchoStar Communications Corp., the nation's second-largest satellite television provider, said Thursday that its second-quarter net income plunged 80 percent mainly because of a reversal of a valuation allowance for deferred tax assets in 2005.

The Dish Network operator, which faces stiff competition from cable television, also cited an additional $14.2 million expense because of an April jury award to Tivo Inc. in a patent dispute.

EchoStar filed the results with the Securities and Exchange Commission after the market closed. Its stock had closed down $3.60 a share, or 10.3 percent, at $31.48 a share on the Nasdaq Stock Market. It rose 31 cents in after-hours trading.

Expunge Lay's guilt, judge urged

HOUSTON -- Lawyers for Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay took their first official step Wednesday toward erasing his felony convictions in light of his death last month.

Lay, 64, was convicted May 25 of fraud and conspiracy in the federal government's foremost criminal trial to emerge from the disgraced company's flameout. His co-defendant, former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, 52, was convicted of 19 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors.

Jurors determined that both repeatedly lied about Enron's financial health when they knew complicated and ultimately unsustainable financial structures hid debt and inflated profits. Lay's July 5 death came before he had appealed or been sentenced, so his legal team can ask U.S. District Judge Sim Lake to wipe his record clean.

3 execs charged in stock scheme

NEW YORK -- Three former top executives at Comverse Technology Inc., a leading maker of voicemail software, contrived to pocket millions of dollars by secretly manipulating stock options, authorities charged Wednesday.

A criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn alleges that former Chief Executive Kobi Alexander, former finance chief David Kreinberg and former senior general counsel William Sorin conspired to falsify dates on which the options were granted.

Kreinberg, 41, of Teaneck, N.J., and Sorin, 56, of New York, surrendered Wednesday morning to the FBI, authorities said. The whereabouts of Alexander, 54, was unknown.

The government seized $45 million from two investment accounts held in Alexander's name. Authorities alleged that the ex-CEO had plotted to hide tens of millions of dollars in other accounts in Israel.

Qimonda IPO not big moneymaker

NEW YORK -- In what had been touted as one of the largest IPOs of the year, Qimonda AG shares ended its first day of trading Wednesday just marginally ahead of its lower-than-expected opening price.

Shares of Qimonda AG, the chip maker spun off by Infineon Technologies AG, closed at $13.53 on the New York Stock Exchange, about 4 percent ahead of the $13 opening price. Infineon American Depositary Shares closed up 21 cents, or 2 percent, at $10.74.

Infineon cut the initial public offering by nearly half early Wednesday, citing a weak demand for IPOs in the United States. The slashed offering followed rumors that the IPO would be postponed altogether.

As a result of the reduced offering, Germany's biggest chip maker ended up raising $546 million, down from the more than $1 billion it had initially sought.