Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: StanX Long who wrote (54951)	10/31/2001 11:35:45 PM
From: StanX Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Enron: SEC Inquiry Now Full-Scale Probe October 31, 2001 8:27:00 PM ET news.moneycentral.msn.com By Jeff Franks HOUSTON (Reuters) - Enron Corp., in a sign of mounting legal problems, said on Wednesday an informal inquiry by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had become a full-scale probe of questionable financial dealings that have rocked the company in recent weeks and sent its stock plummeting. The nation's largest energy trader, scrambling to head off another shock to its already-shattered credibility, said it elected University of Texas law school dean William Powers to its board of directors and that he would head an internal inquiry into transactions that caused Enron to take a $1 billion charge to third quarter earnings and name a new chief financial officer. The company said on Oct. 22 that the SEC was looking into its finances, but stressed that the agency had only requested information. The disclosure that it was now a full-blown, formal investigation may indicate that regulators did not like what they saw. Before the announcement, which came after the stock market closed on Wednesday, Enron stock rose $2.74 to $13.90 to end a 10-day tailspin that saw its price drop to nine-year lows and lost market value of $17 billion. Analysts said bottom-fishing investors had boosted the shares. DUMPING SHARES Investors had been dumping Enron (ENE) shares following disclosures that the company did off-the-balance sheet transactions with two limited partnerships run by former CFO Andrew Fastow, who was replaced last week by another Enron executive, Jeff McMahon. Concern about possible conflicts of interest arising from the deals and the company's failure to explain them had dropped stock levels to levels not seen since the early 1990s, caused a downgrade in credit status, and brought the SEC in. Enron Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ken Lay said the company was trying to shore up its credibility with the appointment of Powers and the launching of an internal inquiry.