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

To: StockDung who wrote (11269)	3/18/2003 5:39:57 PM
From: afrayem onigwecher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19428

4 EX-MERRILL EXECS FACE ENRON CHARGES By ERIC MOSKOWITZ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- March 18, 2003 -- Enron fallout continues to rock Wall Street. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed civil fraud charges against four former Merrill Lynch executives who were accused of helping Enron manipulate its earnings at the tail end of the bull market. The four onetime high-ranking Merrill executives - Schuyler Tilney, Daniel Bayly, Thomas Davis and Robert Furst - are contesting the charges, which were filed in the U.S. District Court in Houston. The defendants couldn't be reached for comment. "This action is a message to all who would help a reporting company commit fraud," said SEC Chairman William Donaldson. "We will bring the full weight of our enforcement arsenal against you." The SEC also finalized its settlement with Merrill. The world's biggest securities firm, which announced the agreement with the SEC in February, said yesterday it will ante up $80 million without admitting or denying the allegations. The new SEC complaint accuses the former Merrill executives of helping the bankrupt Enron overstate its revenue by creating two fraudulent transactions at the end of 1999. Enron used the transactions to add about $60 million to its fourth-quarter 1999 earnings and to increase its earnings per share from $1.09 to $1.17, the SEC said in a statement. In 2002, Merrill dismissed Davis, a vice chairman, and Tilney, head of the firm's Houston energy investment banking operations, for refusing to cooperate with regulators. Bayly, who was the firm's global head of investment banking in 1999, retired from Merrill last year. Bayly initially testified before the SEC in July but later declined to cooperate, the SEC said.