FILE - In this Monday, April 17, 2006 file photo, former Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling is escorted to the federal courthouse for his first day of cross examination in his fraud and conspiracy trial in Houston. ormer Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling has been released from federal custody, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. His discharge comes after serving 12 years in prison and six months in a halfway house for his actions that led to one of the worst corporate meltdowns in history. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File)

FILE - In this Monday, April 17, 2006 file photo, former Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling is escorted to the federal courthouse for his first day of cross examination in his fraud and conspiracy trial in Houston. ormer Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling has been released from federal custody, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. His discharge comes after serving 12 years in prison and six months in a halfway house for his actions that led to one of the worst corporate meltdowns in history. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File)

HOUSTON (AP) — Former Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling has been released from federal custody.

Skilling was discharged Thursday after serving 12 years in prison and six months in a halfway house after being convicted for his actions that led to one of the worst corporate meltdowns in history.

The 65-year-old was initially sentenced in 2006 to 24 years in prison and fined $45 million for multiple counts of securities fraud, conspiracy and other crimes. In 2013, the sentence was reduced to 14 years.

Houston-based Enron collapsed into bankruptcy in 2001 after years of illicit business deals and accounting tricks that put more than 5,000 people out of work, eliminated over $2 billion in employee pensions and rendered worthless $60 billion in Enron stock.