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| 5/23 |
| 2006/5/17-22 [Politics/Domestic/President/Bush, Finance/Investment] UID:43084 Activity:nil |
5/17 Case against Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay of Enron goes to jury.
Predictions? Skilling faces 31 counts, Lay faces 7, including
securities and wire fraud (fraudulent SEC reports and financial
constructs, lying to analysts and employees about health of company),
insider trading (Skilling only, selling $62.6 million in shares after
he quit when he allegedly knew it was a house of cards), and false
statements (to Big5 companies and banks).
http://csua.org/u/fw4 (usatoday.com)
\_ chance of a Bush pardon?
\_ With extremely low approval ratings and the midterm elections
coming up, is he really that dumb? Wait, don't answer that.
\_ But..but approval polls *have no relevance whatsoever*!
MOTD told me so! Waaahhh!
\_ I'll be $10 against a Bush pardon, anyone wanna take it? |
| 5/23 |
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| csua.org/u/fw4 -> www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2006-01-27-charges_x.htm Charges against Lay and Skilling The Associated Press Here is a breakdown of the specific charges against Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling. Both are accused of lying about Enron's financial health before the company crumbled into bankruptcy in December 2001 upon revelations of hidden debt and inflated profits. Gaps in the counts appear because the indictment included other counts against former Enron chief accounting officer Richard Causey. Also, on Friday prosecutors dropped four wire fraud counts against Skilling that had been related to those pending against Causey. Count 1: Conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud, against Lay and Skilling. Covers alleged acts from late 1999 through December 2001. Skilling allegedly approved quarterly and annual reports submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission that misstated revenues and earnings and conducted misleading quarterly conference calls with Wall Street analysts. Lay allegedly lied to employees, credit rating agencies and analysts with claims that Enron was healthy or that its books had been sanitized of problems when he knew otherwise. Stems from so-called Raptors, four fragile financial structures backed by Enron stock used to hedge inflated asset values and keep hundreds of millions of dollars in debt off the energy company's books. Prosecutors say Skilling knew the Raptors were wrongly treated as independent of Enron, so should not have been kept off Enron's books, and that they were used to avoid public disclosure of decreases in asset values. Stems from alleged false statements made to Enron employees via the Internet or video teleconference. The government also alleges that while Lay told analysts in a conference call days after the negative earnings announcement that he was disclosing all the bad news he had found, he held back information on dire problems. Stems from quarterly and annual reports filed with the SEC in 2000 and 2001. Prosecutors allege Skilling knew those reports were intentionally misleading about Enron's revenues, earnings and business operations because accounting schemes hid the true picture. Allege Skilling omitted bad news or lied when he said Enron's revenues from energy trading in California were small while touting Enron's performance and financial health to analysts in several conference calls and an analyst conference in 2000 and 2001. Allege Lay misled a credit rating agency representative days before Enron announced massive quarterly losses, saying Enron's books had been scrubbed when he knew otherwise. Also allege that on three subsequent conference calls with analysts after the losses were announced that Lay minimized their impact and lied, claiming Enron wasn't hiding anything when he knew the company's financial health was worse than disclosed. Counts 31-32: False statements to auditors, against Skilling. Alleges he signed letters to auditors at Arthur Andersen LLP that were misleading about the veracity of Enron's annual financial statements in 2000 and 2001. Counts 33-36: False statements to auditors, against Skilling. Alleges he signed letters to auditors that were misleading about the veracity of Enron's quarterly financial statements for the first three quarters of 2000 and the first quarter of 2001. The counts pertain to nine trades from April through November in 2000 and a single trade in September 2001 about a month after he resigned from Enron. Counts 38-41: One count of bank fraud and three counts of making false statements to banks, against Lay, pertain to his personal banking. The charges allege he obtained $75 million in loans from three banks and then reneged on an agreement with the lenders that he wouldn't use the money to carry or buy Enron stock on margin. Lay will face trial without a jury before US District Judge Sim Lake on these charges shortly after jurors in the conspiracy case against him and Skilling begin deliberations, which are expected to be lengthy. The bank fraud bench trial is expected to last less than two weeks. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
| usatoday.com Sources: Date for Roberts hearings set Republican officials say they' ll start on Sept. Airwaves for the ages Look backat the greatest radio voices and rank today's broadcasters. Bush approval hits lowest point yet More than half of Gallup poll res pondents disapprove of president's performance. Economy grows at solid rate in Q2 Inflation gauge jumps, but prices - - excluding food and energy -- remain tame. Tiger ties career low In shooting 61 for the second round of the Buic k Open, Woods also matched a course record. Big Hurt lives up to nickname again White Sox slugger Frank Thomas is likely out for the season with a broken foot. Saddam questioned again Hearing for ex-dictator focuses on Shiite rep ression in 1991. |