First criminal trial over Enron collapse opens

[seemslikeadream]

Mark Tran
Monday September 20, 2004

The first criminal trial involving former executives of the now infamous energy company, Enron, begins today in a case that could have a crucial bearing on future trials of the company's top officials.
None of the six defendants - four former Merrill Lynch executives and two former mid-level Enron executives who are charged with conspiracy and fraud - have the notoriety of Enron's founder, Kenneth Lay, or former chief executive, Jeffrey Skilling.

Nonetheless, the case starting today in Houston will be closely watched as a possible harbinger for when Mr Lay and Mr Skilling themselves appear in the dock. At issue in the so-called Nigerian barge trial, as jury selection begins, is whether Enron's financial machinations - the kind that led to its eventual collapse - went beyond the law.

Enron's bankruptcy in 2001 was the first of several high-profile scandals that sent tremors through Wall Street and the US corporate world and its impact is still being felt.

"It's significant because this calls into question Wall Street practices in dealing with corporate America," Philip Hilder, a former federal prosecutor who represents several Enron-related clients in Houston, told the Associated Press. "The ramifications of this are broader than Enron, certainly."

more
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1308893,00.html

[struggle4progress]

1. Enron fraud trial starts

Prosecutors allege market manipulation
BLOOMBERG NEWS
HOUSTON

Six former Enron Corp. and Merrill Lynch & Co. executives were accused yesterday of disguising a $7 million loan as a sale of energy-producing barges to "help Enron out of a jam" and artificially increase its revenue.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Hemann told a Houston jury that two former Enron executives and four former Merrill executives increased Enron's income by $12 million with the sham sale of energy-producing Nigerian barges to the bank.

It is the first criminal trial stemming from the 2001 collapse of Enron.

"This is a case about a company called Enron, a company that claimed it made money on a transaction it did not make, and about the company's Wall Street investment bankers who helped make it happen," Hemann said in federal court. "It is about a sale that was not a sale at all." <snip>

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031778088590&path=!business&s=1037645507703

[sattahipdeep]

4. Texas Pacific Group's. Pre-Enron.

Thursday, September 23, 2004
GAIL KINSEY HILL

Oregon utility regulators on Wednesday rejected Texas Pacific Group's
sweetened bid for Portland General Electric and said it would not approve the
deal unless the investment firm agreed to cut utility rates by $75 million.

....
Under state law, the PUC can sanction a change in utility ownership
only if "net benefits" accrue to ratepayers. Generally, benefits have
been interpreted to mean rate relief.

After the PUC staff sharply rejected the plan, Texas Pacific crafted a
more detailed bid that included rate reductions. The cuts would show
up as rate credits of $3 million annually, beginning in 2007 and lasting
through 2011, Texas Pacific said in a PUC filing submitted on Aug. 16.

....
Texas Pacific shouldn't be asked to meet such a high standard because
it is an investment firm, not an energy company, and can't create the
cost savings of more "synergistic" mergers.

The Citizens' Utility Board, an influential consumer watchdog group, is
asking for at least one more significant commitment from Texas Pacific.
It wants the buyout firm to guarantee that it will take PGE public when
the time comes to cash in, said Bob Jenks, CUB's executive director.

....
The goal, Jenks said, "is to get to a locally headquartered, locally
operated, independent, stable, long-term situation," similar to PGE's
status pre-Enron.

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/109594061189030.xml

[sattahipdeep]

2. W. R. Howell-Halliburton-Deutsche

W. R. HOWELL, Chairman Emeritus, J.C. Penney Company, Inc.
Chairman of the Board, J.C. Penney Company, Inc., 1983-1996;
Chief Executive Officer, J.C. Penney Company, Inc., 1983-1995;
joined Halliburton Company Board in 1991; Lead Director, Chairman
of the Management Oversight Committee and member of the Audit
and the Compensation Committees; Director of American
Electric Power Company, Exxon-Mobil Corporation, Pfizer Inc. and the
Williams Company.

He is also a Director of Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation and
Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, non-public wholly owned
subsidiaries of Deutsche Bank AG, and Viseon, Inc. where he has
informed us he will not stand for re-election to the Board in 2004.

http://www.halliburton.com/about/board_of_dir.jsp

[SoCalDem]

3. ..."COLLAPSE"....?????

The ever-fair-and-balanced media does it again..

The headline turns the corrupt,scandalous,thievery sound like some poor old lady with the vapors..

a Proper headline would have read...

Trials Begin for Corrupt Enron Executives