Some Killer Info On Ken Lay:

[Zorra]

Learning from the Enron Case
By Steven D. Grossman, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Texas A&M University; Nicholas G. Apostolou, DBA, DABFA, Cr.FA, CPA, Louisiana State University, Department of Accounting; and D. Larry Crumbley, Ph.D., DABFA, Cr.FA, CPA, Louisiana State University, Department of Accounting

When Jeffrey K. Skilling suddenly resigned on Aug. 14, 2001, a clear red flag, the company’s chairman, Kenneth L. Lay, retook the job saying, “absolutely no accounting issue, no trading issue, no reserve issue, no previously unknown problem issues” were behind the departure. On Aug. 21, Mr. Lay sent an e-mail to employees, reassuring them about the stability of the company and concluding, “one of my highest priorities is to restore investor confidence in Enron. This should result in a significantly higher stock price.”

On Aug. 22, Ms. Sherron Watkins, a vice president of corporate development, met with Mr. Lay and gave him a seven-page letter in which she said that Enron may be an “elaborate accounting hoax.” In an online chat with employees on Sept. 26, Mr. Lay said that Enron stock is a good buy and that the company’s accounting methods are “legally and totally appropriate.”

On Oct. 16, Enron reported a third-quarter loss of $618 million. One day later, the company reduced shareholder equity by $1.2 billion to account for transactions involving Enron and some partnerships created by Andrew S. Fastow, Enron’s chief financial officer. On Oct. 22, the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an inquiry into the partnerships. On Oct. 23, in a conference call, Mr. Lay reassured investors that there was no conflict of interest resulting from the transactions with the partnerships. Directors, he stated, “continue to have the highest faith and confidence” in Mr. Fastow. The next day, Mr. Fastow was fired.
(more)
http://www.acfei.com/ce-enron-case.php

BTW, Ken Lay sold $100 million worth of Enron stock in 2001. That's an awful lot of stock to unload. Since his salary was approximately $45 million a year, I doubt he was strapped for cash.

In Enron’s 2000 Annual Report, the chairman and CEO said that "Enron's performance in 2000 was a success by any measure"

I guess that depends on what you consider success. A bank robber who robs a bank and gets away with it may consider his actions a "success by any measure".

[NewYorkerfromMass]

1. That $45 million salary HAD to have included stock options

I would hope. Otherwise it is a ludicrous salary and ENRON deserved him.

[Zorra]

2. I believe you are correct.

This is from a Bu$h Pioneer source.

Name: Kenneth Lay
Occupation: Chair & CEO, Enron Corp.
Industry: Energy & Natural Resources
Home: Houston, Texas
1999 Salary & Perks: $42.4 Million

The $550,025 that the Enron Corp. gave Bush over the years makes it his No. 1 career patron, according to the Center for Public Integrity. “Virtually every … aspect of Enron’s operations is overseen by the federal government,” a ’96 Dallas Morning News story noted. Not surprisingly, this global natural gas giant and its top executive are big political contributors who keep revolving doors whirling. Lay hired President Bush’s cabinet members James Baker and Robert Mosbacher as they left office. After President Bush’s ’93 Gulf War victory tour of Kuwait, Baker and other members of his entourage stayed on to hustle Enron contracts. The Clinton administration also threatened to cut Mozambique’s aid in ’95 if the world’s poorest country awarded a pipeline contract to a different company. Enron got Bush to contact Texas’ congressional delegation in ’97 to promote a corporate welfare program in which U.S. taxpayers finance political risk insurance for the foreign operations of corporations such as Enron. Enron plants around Houston—which surpassed LA for the title to the nation’s worst air—are “grandfathered” air polluters that exploit a loophole in state law to avoid installing modern pollution-control technologies. Earlier this year the Houston Astros inaugurated their new Enron Field, which was financed with $180 million in public tax dollars and $100 million from Enron. In return, Enron landed tax breaks and a $200 million contract to power the stadium. Topping Enron’s political wish list in Texas was deregulation of the state’s electrical markets. Bush signed this dream into law in ’99.

http://www.tpj.org/pioneers/kenneth_lay.html

[Sweetpea]

3. Yup!!!!!

I am going to forward this to as many people as i can.

[BeFree]

4. Good work, Zorra, Thanks...... n/t

[cosmicdot]

5. some enron articles by Larry Chin

Enron: Ultimate agent of the American Empire

Part I: Money to get power, power to protect money. — Motto of the Medici family

February 1, 2002

"In portraying Enron as a “scandal,” and as an isolated case of overheated capitalism and “unusual political influence,” the American corporate media and congressional investigators are studiously avoiding the truth: Enron, like many multinational corporations, has
functioned as an operational arm of the US government, and as a weapon of economic, political, and territorial hegemony. The case exposes an almost unspeakable and terminal malignancy at the heart of world politics, and global capitalism itself".

http://www.onlinejournal.com/archive/02-01-02_Chin.pdf

Enron: Ultimate agent of the American Empire

Part II: Enron, the Bush administration, and the Central Asian war

February 07, 2002

"Most experts agree that the Caspian Basin and Central Asia are the keys to energy in the 21 st century. Said energy expert James Dorian (Oil & Gas Journal, 9/10/01), “Those who control the oil routes out of Central Asia will impact all future direction and
quantities of flow and the distribution of revenues from new production.”

"America wants the region under total US domination.

"The Caspian Basin has an estimated $5 trillion of oil and gas resources, and Central Asia has 6 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and 10 billion barrels of undeveloped oil reserves. Interconnecting pipelines are the key to accessing and distributing oil and gas to European, Chinese and Russian markets."

http://www.onlinejournal.com/archive/02-07-02_Chin.pdf

Tracking "Pug" Winokur, wolf of the Enron fold

February 17, 2002

"As headlines bellow outrage over Olympic Games figure skating fixes, no mainstream media ink has been devoted to the Enron fix, which is quickly becoming one of the biggest cover-ups in history. This fix began two weeks ago with the quietly accepted testimony
of Enron board member Herbert “Pug” Winokur, an appearance that ensured that the charade would leave criminals protected and free, and plundered monies hidden.

"In his report, Winokur, the chairman of Enron’s finance committee (which is responsible for ensuring the financial soundness of the company) blamed the rest of Enron management, and the auditors at Arthur Andersen, for deceiving him. Members of the various investigating committees quickly accepted this implausible deflection and moved on, eager to avoid crossing the notorious Winokur.

Opponents of Winokur have ample reason to be petrified and silent."

http://www.onlinejournal.com/archive/02-17-02_Chin.pdf