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Non-Tech : Auric Goldfinger's Short List -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: StockDung who wrote (10883)	12/29/2002 1:50:31 AM
From: RockyBalboa	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19428

Does it really matter? Enron execs said to be uncooperative By CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 4:27 PM ET Dec. 28, 2002 HOUSTON (CBS.MW) -- A group of former Enron executives is said to be resisting federal prosecutors who want to use their testimony to expand the investigations of the scandal-ridden energy trader. According to the Washington Post, Richard Causey, Enron's (ENRNQ: news, chart, profile) former chief accounting officer, and Kenneth Rice, who headed up Enron Broadband Services, are stymieing investigators who want the men to turn over evidence against former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay, former CEO Jeffrey Skilling and others. Andrew Fastow, Enron's former CFO, has also refused to work with prosecutors and pleaded not guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges. Prosecutors reportedly see Causey as a key component of their cases against former Enron executives, as he gave the approval to many of the financial deals that eventually led to Enron's fall. As in many such circumstances, Causey could possibly plead guilty and receive a lenient sentence in return for testimony against other Enron officials. However, the Post reports that Causey is maintaining his innocence and intends to defend himself if he is indicted, which lawyers in the case say could happen in mid-January. Rice also says he did nothing wrong. However, at least one of his former subordinates is cooperating with prosecutors by incriminating Rice, and several others have said they are targets of the investigation. Prosecutors are desperate to get former Enron officials to talk about the alleged accounting fraud that led to the company's collapse and which resulted in massive losses for Enron shareholders. The Post reports that if prosecutors get no such help from key officials they will attempt to make a case that says accounting fraud was so widespread that there was no way Enron's top executives couldn't have known about it. Among the allegations the federal task force is looking into is whether Enron used improper accounting methods to boost the value of pipeline and power plant assets, as indicated last April in a report by Enron's interim CEO. The Post says that Enron prosecutors are also following allegations that Rice and his Internet broadband team greatly inflated the revenue and profit forecasts for their projects. Former CEO Skilling presented those projections to securities analysts at a January 2001 conference. Analysts came away from that meeting so impressed that their reports gave Enron stock a strong boost at a time when some executives were selling millions of dollars worth of the company's shares. Investigators looking into the Enron scandal reportedly have not found documents that clearly implicate Skilling and other high-level Enron officials. Without such evidence, prosecutors would have to convince juries that Enron's financial reports were distorted by improper and difficult-to-understand accounting practices that were approved at the top of the company. -------------- Reuters Ex-Enron Execs Resist Prosecutors-Report Saturday December 28, 2:00 am ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some former senior executives at Enron Corp. (Other OTC:ENRNQ.PK - News) are not cooperating with prosecutors seeking testimony to use against former top officers, The Washington Post reported on Saturday. Citing people close to the government's investigation, the newspaper reported that Richard Causey, former chief accounting officer, who allegedly approved the huge secretive financial deals that helped topple the former energy trader, is among those resisting prosecutorial pressure. The Post said that Causey's attorney, Reid Weingarten, had no comment on his client's response to the Enron investigation. He has said previously that his client did not violate accounting rules when he approved Enron deals. Lawyers in the case said at least one of several subordinates to Kenneth Rice, former head of Enron Broadband Services, is cooperating with prosecutors trying to incriminate Rice, according to the paper's report. Rice's lawyer, William Dolan, was quoted by the Washington Post as saying: "Ken Rice did nothing improper, much less illegal." Several of Rice's deputies have been told they are targets in the investigation, the Post reported, and one of Rice's subordinates, Edward Smida, is cooperating with investigators. Smida's lawyer, Philip Hilder declined to comment in the newspaper article. A Justice Department spokesman declined to discuss the specifics of the Enron case, but added that investigators are determined to bring the "greatest amount of pressure" they can on "white-collar criminals," the report said. Prosecutors are seeking testimony implicating Enron's top officials in accounting fraud that led to the company's collapse and billions of dollars of losses for shareholders. Lawyers said Andrew Fastow, former chief financial officer, has pleaded not guilty to fraud and other charges and has not cooperated with investigators, the paper reported.