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

To: opalapril who wrote (2428)	8/2/2002 12:44:41 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 3602

Bush Justice Department Enforcement Required Wednesday, 31 July 2002, 9:59 am Press Release: Judicial Watch For Immediate Release Jul 30, 2002 Contact: Press Office 202-646-5172 CORPORATE LEGISLATION scoop.co.nz Bush Justice Department Enforcement Required Justice Department Could Begin With Halliburton (Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and abuse, said today that President Bush’s signing of corporate reform legislation is merely a cosmetic effort by the Bush administration to appease critics on Capitol Hill and in the media. The signing ceremony was also a publicity opportunity to bolster President Bush’s sagging poll numbers and settle the wildly volatile stock market. While President Bush promised in today’s signing ceremony that the corporate reform legislation is "the most far reaching reforms of American business practices," and warned executives who would break the law, "you'll be exposed and punished," ironically, no criminal charges or arrests have been brought by the Bush-Cheney Justice Department in connection with high officials of Enron, Halliburton, Global Crossing or WorldCom. President Bush and senior members of his administration have close ties to Enron and its CEO, Kenneth Lay, who the president affectionately calls, “Kenny Boy.” Vice President Cheney was the CEO of Halliburton in the late 1990s. Enron, Global Crossing and WorldCom were all large contributors to the two major political parties. “Actions speak louder than words, and nearly one year later, Enron executives who are friends of the Bush administration are still free to go and do as they please. What does that tell you about how seriously this administration takes the rampant corporate fraud that has destroyed the life savings and pensions of millions of American senior citizens? And, Vice President Cheney still has a lot of answers he owes the American public about his days at Halliburton. Let’s start enforcing the new law from the top down,” stated Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman. ENDS

To: opalapril who wrote (2428)	8/5/2002 10:04:19 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 3602

The DOJ’s Seven Deadly Enron Sins <<...1. DOJ failed to assert control of documentation and records of Enron’s on shore and off shore subsidiaries and affiliates as well as Enron’s banks, trading partners, auditors and other vendors that would give them a complete picture of how the money worked at Enron and how to get stolen or laundered or slush fund monies back; 2. DOJ failed to assert control of documentation and records and cash before the transfer and sale of assets; 3. DOJ failed to assert control of documentation and records and cash before bankruptcy; 4. DOJ failed to prevent shredding; 5. DOJ failed to assert control of company cash and assets both onshore and offshore and related entities; 6. DOJ failed to assert control of personal cash and insider trading profits and capital gains; 7. DOJ failed to arrange for the cancellation of Enron and Arthur Anderson’s government contracts and assert control of government payables. This is not an accident. Although we are paying the salaries, health care, bonuses, travel, expense accounts and pension funds of the attorneys at the Department of Justice, at the White House as well as our Congressional representatives, they are essentially doing everything possible to help the bad guys get away with the cash...>> scoop.co.nz

To: opalapril who wrote (2428)	8/22/2002 1:13:55 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 3602

The First Domino at Enron Lead Editorial The New York Times August 22, 2002 Eight months into the Justice Department's investigation of the financial shenanigans that led to Enron's unexpected bankruptcy and triggered a crisis of confidence in financial markets, federal prosecutors have reeled in a big fish. Yesterday Michael Kopper, a former managing director of Enron's global finance unit, pleaded guilty to federal money-laundering and fraud charges. Mr. Kopper was responsible for setting up and running some of the notorious off-the-books partnerships that bore names like Chewco. The Justice Department task force pursuing the Enron case previously obtained a criminal conviction against the accounting firm Arthur Andersen, but these are the first criminal charges brought against an Enron insider. Because Mr. Kopper, who is 37, is cooperating with the prosecution, it is all but certain that more charges will follow. A domino effect could take place among other former executives negotiating plea bargains. Mr. Kopper may prove especially helpful in the effort to build cases against the company's former chief financial officer, Andrew Fastow; its former chief executive officer, Jeffrey Skilling; and possibly even its former chairman, Kenneth Lay. Mr. Fastow, the financier credited with devising the scheme to conceal Enron debt in ostensibly independent partnerships, seems to have the most to worry about. Mr. Kopper has variously been described as his close friend, protégé and lieutenant, but he may soon become — above all else — his chief accuser. In describing in court yesterday the partnerships that so ingeniously hid Enron debt, inflated its earnings and covertly enriched a small number of company executives, Mr. Kopper said he gave Mr. Fastow large kickbacks from the fees he obtained for managing the partnerships. Emboldened prosecutors then moved to freeze more than $20 million of Mr. Fastow's assets. Mr. Kopper's management of some of these partnerships on Mr. Fastow's behalf netted him and his domestic partner profits sizable enough to shock even the other Enron executives allowed to invest in the deals, as well as the company's board of directors. As part of his plea bargain, and his settlement of a civil action by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr. Kopper, who may yet serve jail time, will pay $12 million as restitution. That should provide little comfort to defrauded investors who lost billions or to the thousands of innocent Enron employees who lost their jobs and retirement savings because of the reckless self-dealing among executives. Prosecutors owe it to them to build on yesterday's heartening breakthrough. nytimes.com

To: opalapril who wrote (2428)	8/22/2002 3:18:58 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 3602

Lay knew nothing about Enron deals, lawyer says [and if you believe this I have some farmland I want to sell you in Southern Lake Michigan <G>] By Jeff Franks HOUSTON, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Former Enron Corp. (Other OTC:ENRNQ.PK - News) chairman Ken Lay presided over such a sprawling company that he knew nothing about illegal side deals that helped topple the energy giant, his lead defense lawyer said on Wednesday in the first glimpse of his strategy for the legal wars ahead. Mike Ramsey, a locally prominent attorney who has kept a low profile for months, suddenly surfaced at the federal courthouse on the same day former Enron executive Michael Kopper became the first company insider to plead guilty to a crime. In an impromptu news conference, Ramsey tried to distance Lay from the financial scandal that drove Enron to bankruptcy in December. "There were lots of things going on in Enron that lots of people didn't know anything about," he said. "Certainly the crimes that went on at Enron were kept secret on purpose. They were kept secret from the board, they were kept secret from many of the people over there. "When people steal, they keep it secret," he added. Ramsey said Lay was so far removed from financial deals that helped bring Enron down that he did not even know Kopper, who pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. Kopper helped his boss, then-chief financial officer Andrew Fastow, run shadowy Enron-related partnerships that hid billions in debt, inflated profits, and sparked Enron's fall into bankruptcy. When a reporter asked how it was possible for the chief executive of Enron to be so out of touch, Ramsey said it was a matter of the company's size and structure. "I don't think you understand the way Enron is set up," Ramsey said. "I don't think you understand how many time zones it operates in, how many people there are and how criminals keep things secret from administration. If you come to understand that, I think you'll understand the whole situation we're in." His comments were similar to those made by former Enron chief executive Jeff Skilling when he told Congress earlier this year he knew of no wrongdoing in the company. Lay, who has not spoken publicly about the case, has not yet been charged with a crime but is a defendant in numerous shareholder lawsuits. He is accused in the suits of insider stock trading that netted him millions of dollars even as his company was going down the tubes. But Ramsey said Lay sold off stock because he was trying to stay afloat financially as Enron's once-soaring share price plummeted last year. There were margin calls to be answered on his personal Enron stock holdings, he said. "That is a rather complex situation where he was using a line of credit essentially because of the falling price of the shares. He had a heavy debt load and he was servicing debt," he said. Ramsey said Lay was a victim of Washington politics, but that after congressional elections in November the pressure for prosecutors to pursue Lay would ease up. He was confident Lay would not be indicted. "I've seen nothing that troubles me as a lawyer, so far as any wrongdoing by Ken Lay," he told reporters.