Ex-Enron lieutenant testifies barge sale just a ploy (Fastow giggled)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2817006

An aide to Enron's former chief financial officer testified today that his boss, Andrew Fastow, giggled when asking him about an off-the-books partnership that helped Enron fudge financial statements by temporarily buying a stake in some Nigerian barges.

Michael Kopper, the first former Enron executive to strike a plea bargain with prosecutors, took the stand in the first Enron criminal trial and testified that Fastow confided that making Enron's books look good would turn him into a hero with Enron's CEO, Jeff Skilling.

It was Fastow who set up the deal for his partnership, LJM2, to take the barges off Merrill Lynch's hands, Kopper testified. Prosecutors contend that Merrill Lynch had bought the barges from Enron six months earlier, at the end of 1999, only to give Enron a chance to record the transaction as revenue and meet profit targets that triggered bonuses for Enron brass.

What made the 1999 deal illegal, prosecutors say, is a secret promise by Fastow and Enron executives now on trial to get Merrill Lynch out of the deal within six months at a guaranteed profit, either by finding another buyer for the three power-generating barges or falling back on Enron to repurchase them. That guarantee turned the transaction into a loan, which should have been logged as a liability on Enron's books, prosecutors say.

[Chescher]

1. these guys should be electrocuted

These guys oughta just be sent to poundmeuptheass prison. No chance for parole. No chance for pardon. No time off for good behavior. If Martha got 6 months, these guys should be getting life. I want these guys televised 24 hours a day, so we can see it when Big Bubba slips 'em the big one, and they fall over and wimper like the bitches they are. Gheesh. I want every one of their business school professors to be listed as an accomplice, based on ethics in general, to question the ethics in law that they are teaching in business school these days. Hell, I can't drive thru a school zone 5 mph over the limit without getting nailed by the cops. But these guys can rape, pillage and plunder thier way thru the system. I'm sorry, but the system should be one giant dick up their respective asses. Labor leaders should be holding conferences after every single court appearance to declare a failure of the system, loss of checks and balances and end to the mantra 'greed is good'

[aquart]

2. Only their mothers would disagree with you.

"Greed is good" was the mantra of a movie character who was carted off to jail in the end, was he not?

Is this what a generation has modeled itself upon?

[Zan_of_Texas]

3. Rape is not an appropriate punishment. Sorry,

These boys were in cahoots with Arthur Andersen to destroy literally truckloads of documents right before the SEC came in looking for things. Truckloads! Shredded.

In addition, they turned the lights out on California.

Therefore, the punishment ... to start ... should be to paste all the shredded truckloads of documents back together. And, their jail cells can have light, but no air conditioning -- that's more than California had when Enron and the others turned California's electricity off.

After the documents are pasted together, THEN the trials can begin.

[saigon68]

7. Settle Down Here

Those penalties are only for children who smoke Dope.

[Zorra]

8. So what is going on with Bu$h's bestest pal, Ken Lay these days?

Speaking of life without parole.

[sandnsea]

4. Took the stand?

Martha Stewart was all over the news, these guys are finally on trial and we hear nothing??
:argh:

[w4rma]

5. Big media is so blatant it would be funny if it weren't so serious. (nt)

[0007]

6. Dan Rather's is taking a bigger hit than these guys and he didn't steal a

dime. Of course his buddy wasn't junior either.

[UpInArms]

9. these Enron guys are just so funny

it cracks me up /sarcasm

"You know what the difference is between the state of California and the Titanic?

At least when the Titanic went down, the lights were on" - Jeff Skilling, Enron CEO

http://www.dukeemployees.com/deregulation1002.shtml

[struggle4progress]

10. kick

:kick: