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To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (46665)	1/19/2002 4:55:46 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) of 65232

Judge to Andersen: Stop Shredding Friday January 18, 10:20 pm Eastern Time HOUSTON (Reuters) - A Texas judge on Friday ordered accountancy firm Andersen to halt the destruction of documents relating to its auditing of energy trading firm Enron Corp. which collapsed into bankruptcy late last year. State district Judge Caroline Baker granted the order to attorneys representing investors and Enron employees who hope to recoup millions of dollars they lost on holdings of Enron stock which became almost worthless as the company's crisis deepened. Andersen has acknowledged that it destroyed Enron-related documents after Enron disclosed in October that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was looking into Enron's extensive use of off-balance sheet financing vehicles. Earlier this week Andersen said it would fire its lead Enron auditor, alleging he ordered Enron documents be destroyed. An attorney representing the auditor said he had done nothing wrong. Andersen said shredding stopped after Andersen received a subpoena from the SEC in November. Enron has since fired Andersen as its auditor. Andersen attorney Rusty Hardin said Friday's order was superfluous because documents were no longer being destroyed. ``We would have to be suicidal to be doing anything further. The Justice Department wants our documents, Congress wants our documents, the SEC wants our documents and all the people suing us want our documents,'' he told reporters. Attorney George Fleming, representing the investors and employees, said the order provided an important tool to help prove the plaintiffs' allegation that poor auditing by Andersen played a large role in the losses they incurred. ``We feel we now have an enforceable order for the first time in this litigation that would entitle us to get sanctions against Andersen should anybody get the bright idea, like they did before, to destroy the documents we need,'' he said. Enron and Andersen are facing dozens of lawsuits from angry investors and employees who lost huge sums of money as Enron's stock fell from $33 in mid-October to less than $1 by late November. Enron is currently under investigation by several congressional committees and federal agencies, including a criminal probe by the U.S. Justice Department.

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