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

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (2855)	12/5/2003 5:03:33 PM
From: Raymond Duray	Respond to of 3602

Whether they have become a higher or lower life form, I will leave for others to judge. LOL! That depends on whether one considers Komodo dragons and African crocodiles more evolved than their mammalian prey. *** Re: Did you notice that Lake made some contributions to John Kerry? Politics makes for strange bedfellows. *** I look forward to your M/L yarn. :) I suffered a minor version of being fleece by an investment banker in 1991 when the NASDAQ was beginning to rage in a bout of irrational exuberance. As the results of the "war" against Saddam became clear, Mr. Market was kicking up his heels. Knowing enough to get in on a good thing, I took a check to the offices of Robertson-Stephens on Montgomery St. in San Francisco. I looked an investment banker in the eye and handed him a check for $10,000 to open an account. From the day that I handed the banker the check, the NAV of the mutual fund that I designated soared another 30% in a period of two weeks or so, and then returned within a month to the original level I'd invested at. Curiously, my shares were assigned to me after great delay, and on the very day that the mutual fund peaked! My first statement didn't reflect that I was at a break even point, as I would have been had this particular fund been available via Schwab, Fidelity or Vanguard. By choosing a boutique shop with a small aggressive fund, I managed to find the investment banker from hell who immediately gave me a $3,000 haircut for simply daring to walk in the door. When I received my first statement, I went back to their offices and confronted the banker about the outrageous abuse I'd suffered at his hands. He blamed me, the victim, for failing to purchase the shares of the account through "normal channels". I have loathed and distrusted investment bankers ever since.

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (2855)	12/7/2003 11:20:21 AM
From: The Duke of URL©	Respond to of 3602

Truth has a way of finding the sunshine: How a foe of accounting reform changed his [colors]: The price of power politics in Washington / Part One Sunday, December 07, 2003 By Dave Murray and Joe Mahr, (c)The Blade 2003 Lisa Dutton/Toledo Blade Rep. Michael Oxley, R-Ohio, co-sponsored a measure aiming to make financial information released by public companies as accurate as possible. The Sarabanes-Oxley Act was enacted in the wake of corporate accounting scandals. WASHINGTON -- Arthur Levitt knew there was a problem -- one that could drain the savings of millions of Americans. The government's top Wall Street watchdog had cut his teeth as a stockbroker in New York -- a place where executives always tried to make their profits look big, and where accountants tried to keep them honest. But by the 1990s, the lines were blurring. Accountants were now making more money on corporate consulting than on corporate auditing. As chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Levitt saw a clear conflict of interest, and in 2000 he decided to try to stop the practice. He wouldn't get far. Standing in his way was the accounting industry and some of its best friends in Congress -- including Rep. Mike Oxley, R-Ohio, chairman of a subcommittee that oversaw the SEC. The industry showered Oxley and other congressmen with campaign cash. They beat back Levitt's attempts at reform. A year later Enron would become a household name -- the first in a series of dramatic corporate collapses caused by the failure of accountants, executives, and bankers. As investors lost billions, reformers demanded changes. Levitt had been right. In 2002, Congress finally granted Levitt's request in a bill that eventually carried Oxley's name -- the Oxley-Sarbanes Act. The Findlay congressman has since touted the bill as proof he's cracked down on corporate crooks. But an investigation by The Blade, of Toledo, Ohio, shows that Oxley has spent years protecting American corporations from government regulators. Along the way he has become one of the GOP's biggest fund-raisers and the top recipient of campaign cash from the accounting industry. ... [continued at site, very informative] post-gazette.com

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (2855)	12/10/2003 4:32:30 PM
From: Glenn Petersen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3602

Ex-Nicor executives indicted The Associated Press Published December 10, 2003, 2:24 PM CST chicagotribune.com Three former executives of now-defunct energy marketer Nicor Energy and an outside lawyer for the company were indicted Wednesday on charges of scheming to obtain $400,000 in bonuses and other benefits by inflating revenues. ``These charges demonstrate our continuing commitment to investigating and prosecuting corporate executives who distort financial information that is relied upon by outside auditors and, most importantly, the investing public,'' U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said in announcing the wire fraud charges. The five-count indictment named Kevin Stoffer, 45, of Naperville, former president and chief executive officer; Andrew Johnson, 43, of Elmhurst, former director of financial services; John Fringer, 43, of Naperville, another executive; and Michael Munson, 38, of Chicago, an outside attorney for the company. The names of their lawyers were not immediately available. Wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Nicor Energy was established in 1997 as a joint venture by Nicor Inc. and Houston-based Dynegy Inc. It was based in suburban Lisle. In July 2002, Nicor Inc. issued a news release saying its financial results had been negatively affected by several factors, including accounting irregularities at Nicor Energy. The next day Nicor stock fell about 40 percent. Nicor Energy, which was unregulated, is in the process of final liquidation. The indictment said Nicor Energy made bonus payments in 2002 dependent on meeting or exceeding profit targets. The defendants caused the reporting of bogus profits on Nicor Energy's 2001 financial statements, according to the indictment. Stoffer and Johnson inflated the figures by as much as $6 million, prosecutors alleged. Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press