HOUSTON – Former Enron President Jeffrey Skilling scoffed at a key prosecution accusation that he is the “mastermind” of a conspiracy to deceive investors and instead pointed the finger for the company’s collapse on an “organized” effort by short-sellers and the press.

Mr. Skilling also detailed his own efforts to rally the company’s former chairman, co-defendant Kenneth Lay, and other executives to combat questions about the proprietary of the company’s dealings with an investment partnership led by a former Enron financial executive.

On the stand in his defense, Mr. Skilling derided the prosecution’s description of him and Mr. Lay as atop a criminal conspiracy. In response to a question about whether he knew the prosecution characterizes him as the mastermind, Mr. Skilling laughed and said: “I’ve become aware of that.”

He also suggested that he had no direct recollection of an effort to sell Enron shares prior to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. He sold 500,000 shares on September 17, the first day that trading began after the attacks had shut down Wall Street. The sale, he said, had nothing to do with any concerns about Enron. “I was very concerned about the economy,” he told the jury. “I didn’t know if we were going into freefall at that point. It was not a good time.”

In response to the question of whether he had considered selling shares prior to the attack, he replied no, then quickly added, “I guess so reading that [trial] transcript.”

A former broker had testified last month in Mr. Skilling’s presence that the former president had tried to sell 200,000 shares on September 6, but the sale was cancelled due to a paperwork problem. After September 11, Mr. Skilling called again and sold 500,000 shares. He is charged with insider trading in connection with the September sale and others.

Mr. Skilling said he was shocked when the first in a series of Wall Street Journal articles appeared the next month raising questions about the role of Enron’s former chief financial officer, Andrew Fastow, in a partnership used to hedge investment losses. He and Mr. Lay have insisted the partnership, known as LJM, was used properly to raise funds for investments.

“It was insinuating there was some bad motive or intent related to this LJM transaction, which was not my understanding of it. The thought the Wall Street Journal to be honest was totally out of line. It was accusatory,” he said.

He called Mr. Lay and later Fastow to recommend that they “open the kimono” and provide more details of the partnership transactions to allay investor fears, he said. “He believed as I did this was very rough treatment of the company in this article. I think [there was] a little bit of commiseration about this unfair characterization,” he testified. Fastow has testified that he took the call as a signal that he should “tow the party line” and continue to insist there was nothing wrong with the partnership or its transactions despite the increasing attention.

Mr. Skilling also testified that he proposed returning to the company to help increase credibility among investors. He said Mr.Lay and the company’s then COO were favorable on the idea but the notion was rejected after discussions among Enron’s managers. He said he didn’t take the rejection harshly.

Mr. Skilling is expected to be on the stand all week.