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Non-Tech : The ENRON Scandal -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mephisto who wrote (3851)	4/13/2002 1:19:08 AM
From: Raymond Duray	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5185

Mephisto, Re: Stories about Mr. White's questionable behavior at his current job have emerged only recently, but it has been apparent for months that he was a Potemkin executive: all facade, with nothing behind it. We shouldn't forget that it was White who ran the Potemkin Village on the 6th Floor at Enron HQ, where he organized a sham trading operation to impress visiting Wall Street analysts. The man lied for a living. -Ray

To: Mephisto who wrote (3851)	4/15/2002 10:59:20 PM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5185

FBI investigates army secretary's Enron dealings David Teather in New York Tuesday April 16, 2002 The Guardian The US government was dragged back into the Enron scandal yesterday with reports that federal investigators are studying possible insider trading by army secretary Thomas White. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents are said to be focusing on calls and contacts Mr White had with Enron executives in October, two months before the company collapsed. Mr White, a former vice chairman of the failed US energy firm, sold half of his shares during the month, netting more than $3m (£2m). According to the reports, the FBI has interviewed friends and former colleagues of Mr White to find out whether he sought any information on Enron's financial position as it stumbled toward bankruptcy. Mr White has told congressional investigators of 73 contacts with current or former Enron employees since he joined the Bush administration 10 months ago. The majority were between the August resignation of chief executive Jeffery Skilling and the December 3 bankruptcy filing. Mr White has maintained that the calls were motivated by concern over the fate of former colleagues and that he did not act on any inside information. He has also denied knowledge of the off-shore partnerships that masked Enron's debt and eventually triggered its demise. Colonel Jim Allen, a spokesman for Mr White, told the Wall Street Journal: "He [Mr White] was given a deadline to sell, he asked for and got an extension, then the war in Afghanistan came along and he was busy. By the end of October he'd totally divested himself of stock. The secretary has answered all these questions repeatedly." A spokesman for the FBI in Washington declined to comment. The Bush administration's relationship with Enron has come under intense scrutiny since the energy firm became the biggest bankruptcy in corporate history. Kenneth Lay, another former chief executive, was a personal associate of the president and Enron was one of the biggest backers of the Bush election campaign. Talks aimed at ensuring the survival of Arthur Andersen, the accountancy firm that audited Enron's accounts, were continuing last night. The US offices of Andersen are attempting to settle an indictment for obstruction of justice ahead of a trial due at the beginning of next month. guardian.co.uk

To: Mephisto who wrote (3851)	4/16/2002 8:24:33 PM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5185

FBI Enron investigation reaches into Bush administration links The Irish Times April 16, 2004 From Conor O'Clery, International Business Editor, on Wall Street The FBI investigation into Enron has reached into the Bush administration, with federal agents interviewing friends and former colleagues of US Army Secretary Thomas White, who was 11 years an Enron executive, on possible insider trading. Mr White has become something of an embarrassment to the White House as he is also facing questions over his use of a Pentagon aircraft for personal business, namely making a side trip to Aspen, Colorado to complete the sale of a $6.5 million (€7.38 million) holiday home. Mr White sold 400,000 shares of Enron for $12.1 million between June and October last year, and the FBI investigation centres on whether he asked for or used inside information on the deteriorating financial situation inside the now-bankrupt energy trader. In the 10 months from the time he became a member of President George Bush's defence team until the company crashed on December 2nd in the biggest bankruptcy in history, Mr White had 73 contacts with Enron people, most in the last four months. According to evidence he gave to Congressional officials, Mr White said he spoke to or met several top Enron executives, including then CEO Kenneth Lay, in September and October. In October, as the financial condition of the Houston-based firm worsened, Mr White sold half his Enron stock for $3.08 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. He unloaded almost 100,000 more shares just before Enron disclosed that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had launched an investigation. While the FBI investigation may clear Mr White, it is an uncomfortable reminder to electors of the extraordinarily close ties between the administration and the Texas company whose collapse hurt investors and employees and all but brought down its auditors, Arthur Andersen. Mr Lay was Mr Bush's biggest single donor during his presidential election campaign, and Enron funded hundreds of members of Congress, the majority of them Republicans. Mr White has said he never sold stock based on what anyone told him at Enron, and that the contacts were made out of concern for his friends and former colleagues. He has denied knowledge of the partnerships set up by Enron to inflate earnings. The partnerships are being investigated to establish if they were part of a massive securities fraud at Enron. The FBI and the SEC are both seeking evidence of criminal wrongdoing in the case of one partnership called JEDI, the New York Times reported yesterday. Videotapes meanwhile have surfaced showing how closely Enron was linked to its auditors. Enron's chief risk officer, Mr Richard Buy, is recorded as saying in one tape that "Arthur Andersen's penetration or involvement in the company is probably different than anything I've experienced," adding, "They are kind of everywhere and in everything." o John Hancock Financial Services has filed a lawsuit against directors of Enron and its auditor Arthur Andersen, as the life insurer looks to claw back investment losses it suffered as the energy trader collapsed. John Hancock, with about $215 million invested in Enron, mostly in private debt, has sued 27 Enron directors. ireland.com