[JURIST] A federal judge has refused a request made six months ago by former Enron [JURIST news archive] CEO Jeffrey Skilling [BBC profile] to dismiss the ten insider trading charges filed against him. Skilling is alleged to have sold $26 million in stock while in possession of non-public information about the company's financial situation, but argued the indictment failed to specify what information he had when he made the trades. In his opinion made public Thursday, US District Judge Sim Lake [Houston Chronicle profile] also refused to remove a paragraph from Skilling's indictment [text, PDF] alleging he directed former Enron Investor Relations head Mark Koenig to mislead analysts. Koening has already pleaded guilty [BBC report; DOJ press release] to securities fraud and is expected to testify against Skilling. Skilling's trial on 35 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors is now scheduled to begin on January 30 [JURIST report] after a two-week postponement [JURIST report] was granted following a guilty plea [JURIST report] Wednesday by former Skilling co-defendant Richard Causey. AP has more.