HOUSTON — Long before Enron Corp. drowned in scandal, its former chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling trumpeted the company's savvy in creating trading markets beyond energy. Now it turns out they are the subjects of futures contracts that allow investors to wager on whether they will be convicted of fraud and conspiracy charges.

Intrade, a futures market based in Dublin, Ireland, creates trading vehicles based on everything from which film will win best picture at the Academy Awards to whether bird flu will be discovered in the United States before March 31. It recently added contracts on whether jurors will convict Lay of at least four charges and whether they will find Skilling guilty on at least 16 counts.

And a Costa Rica bookmaking Web site has posted odds on the same bet.

Lawyers for the two men criticized such speculation on the future of their clients, who would face decades in prison if convicted. "I think it's abhorrent, betting on people's lives," Skilling lawyer Daniel Petrocelli said. Michael Ramsey, Lay's lawyer, added: "It should probably be illegal. That's an invitation to tamper with the case."

Prosecutors contend Lay and Skilling lied to investors about Enron's financial health before it filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2001. The defendants counter that there was no fraud and they are innocent of any wrongdoing. The trial, which will begin its third week on Monday, is expected to last four months or more.

Enron's once-envied trading operation sought to create markets in commodities beyond energy, such as metals and Internet bandwidth.

Yesterday, when court was not in session, the trading at Intrade showed a more than 60 percent chance that Lay would be convicted of at least four of the seven counts of fraud and conspiracy against him. For Skilling, trading showed about a 75 percent chance he would be convicted on more than half of the 31 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors pending against him.

Intrade created a trading market for last year's molestation trial of Michael Jackson, who was acquitted. Those contracts settled at zero because of the acquittal — as will those on Lay and Skilling if jurors exonerate them or find them guilty of less than the requisite number of charges.