Enron Probe Crosses Many Political Borders

FOXNews.com / AP contributed ^ | January 10, 2002 | Staff

[Uncle Bill]

WASHINGTON

[Askel5]

You are a treasure (trove), plain and simple.

Thanks, Uncle Bill.

[Taxman]

Thanks for the ping, dixie.

This will not harm W as much as it will the Democrats and Arthur Anderson. And it will enrich a bunch of lawyers and result in legislation designed to prevent future occurrences, which will not work.

Another exercise in futility, IMHO. However, some of the regular folks who got screwed out of their 401K funds may get some of their bux back, 10 years or so from now.

And, the American taxpayers are going to get screwed, no matter what happens.

[Eva]

What your article doesn't explain is that Ken Lay may not have donated as much money to the Democrats, but he set them up with the Chinese and the Indonesians. But, I guess that is old news, time to move on.

The Left needs to be careful how hard they push this. They may have a more effective spin machine, but eventually the truth will get out and it won't be pretty. I think that they are hoping that Bush will ask for an independent council who will put a lid on the story and keep the stink on Bush, but I think they are betting wrong. This is one story that the justice dept won't sit on. All the details will be released, through press conferences if necessary. The liberal press will never cover the truth.

[Askel5]

ALCOA?!?

Humph ... prolly gonna set the tinfoilers off on flouride in the water again. When will they understand that the intimate relationship between corporate and federal governance is for our own good ... and bright toothy grins?

[wooly_mammoth]

Interesting statistics. Things changed around 1996. It's surprising how little money it takes to influence politicians. Enron lost something like $60,000,000,000 while it took under $5,000,000 to pave the way. That's a 12,000 to 1 ratio. Wanna steal $12,000? No problem, all we require is a $1 contribution. I think the US is way more corrupt than third-world dictatorships. In third-world dictatorships the politicians would at least ask for 2-20% on any deal. Here all it takes is 0.008%.

[Deb]

Your graphic is pointless. Guess you didn't notice that Enron crashed and burned. You do read, don't you? If you are also able to reason you will appreciate the fact that Enron's contributions to Republcians benefitted them NOTHING!!

Leaving that aside, contributing to a candidate is no crime or indication of a crime. It's okay to support candidates you agree with, or haven't you heard?

All you "both sides" people need to show and document a change in policy involving the donor's issue following a contribution. Those changes, about-faces and total reversals appear in every case with the Clinton administration. They appear nowhere in Bush's political career.

Your attempt to trash anyone accepting campaign donations is stupid and lazy. But it is typical of the "both sides" goons.

[Uncle Bill]

Andersen says it has "also asked former U.S. Sen. John Danforth to conduct an immediate and comprehensive review of Andersen's records management policy and to recommend improvements." It does not say how much it is paying Danforth for his counsel, but it can have this policy tip for nothing: Don't destroy documents related to a scandal that led to a bankruptcy that wiped out $70 billion in shareholder value.

John Danforth? Hehehehehe. Bring out the FLIR tapes.

WHITE HOUSE ADMITS CONTACT (Enron)
New Disclosures Add to Enron Turmoil
Enron Bankruptcy "Bombshell"
The clintons, Brown, Rubin, Jordan, Strauss, and ENRON . . . and Helen Thomas
ENRON A CLINTON KAFFEEKLATSCHEE
Clinton-Gore sales team eased Enron's path to success
Arthur Andersen Admits It Destroyed Documents Related to Enron Account
Enron's Lay Sought Cabinet Officials' Help; Ashcroft Recuses Himself From Investigation
Enron-White House Dealings Probed
Ailing Enron had sought help from Cabinet officials
Enron = Whitewater?
Ann Richards put Ken Lay (head of Enron) in charge of G.B.C.
Liberals Send Threatening E-Mails to Enron Journalists - 'Dig Harder' or else
Clinton Official Met with Enron Chairman
NOTE: Mack McLarty nominated to Entergy Board of Directors - Fired CEO Lupberger gets $11 million payoff

About Bush And Enron… Let's Pause And Count To Ten
ENRON and the DEMOCRATS - A partial list of FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS and DATES
Enron’s Campaign Contributions, 1989-2001- Senate & House
ABC's Donaldson: Enron Dwarfs Lewinsky and Whitewater
Matalin Details Cheney-Enron Meetings
Bush, aides knew of Enron troubles
FLASHBACK: CLINTON OFFICIAL MET WITH ENRON CHAIRMAN; $100,000 CASH DONATION TO DEMOCRATS
ENRON – WHAT’S GOING ON?
The Enron Chain Saw Massacre
Enron's ties with the Bush administration
Treasury's Fisher Rejected Enron Request on Banks
Enron, Ron Brown and Indonesia
51 Senate Committee Subpoenas Due Today in Enron Probe
Nearly Half of Congress Got Political Money From Enron
'What Did They Know and When Did They Know It?' (re: Enron)
Treasury's Fisher Felt Enron Asked for Help
White House Was a Second Home for Enron Officials
Enron, Bill Richardson, and $882 million dollars in Nigerian power contracts
The Enron List
Andersen under fire for document destruction [Enron Auditor]
Latest Enron Battle Pits Big Banks Against Insurers
All About Clinton, Enron and China

[Uncle Bill]

Corruption in the Federal Government
"The Enron situation is another tragic example. Here we have a major American corporation lying to their stockholders and to the press. We did a segment on this last night, and I received hundreds of letters saying that Americans who bought Enron stock were responsible and not the dishonest executives.

That view is insane. Enron's accountants were constantly putting out misleading reports, and insider selling is not made public until months after it happens. Attorney General Ashcroft should be all over this situation. The FBI should be grilling the accountants and executives, and the U.S. attorney in Houston should be preparing indictments right now.

But Enron executives are close to Vice President Dick Cheney, and they still have power in Republican circles. So we'll see if anything will be done.

The more corruption that is tolerated by the feds, the weaker the United States becomes. The Clinton administration was flat-out corrupt, and now the Bush administration seems willing to keep silent on urgent matters."

[Askel5]

Oh man ... where were you when Clinton needed you?

[Uncle Bill]

ENRON CORPORATION - Social Network Diagram

KENNETH LAY - Social Network Diagram

[nunya bidness]

The Chinese have had five thousand years of experince on knowing how to gut and plunder a country like America.

Bears repeating.

[aristeides]

Joseph W. Sutton, president of Enron, was one of those scheduled to be on Ron Brown's fatal flight in 1996 who managed to miss the flight.

[Senator Pardek]

Not to mention bright goofy grins!

[Deb]

How's that blood trail thing comin'?

[Uncle Bill]

It pays to get phone calls in advance when those in the inner circle know there will be an assassination and a plane crash. Business as usual. With the little information we have been supplied, think how bad it really must be.

Rubin Called For Enron

CNN MONEY
January 11, 2002: 7:23 p.m. ET

Ex-Treasury Secretary made call to official on behalf of company

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ex-Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin called a top Treasury Department official on behalf of troubled Enron Corp. in early November, a Treasury spokeswoman said late Friday.

The call was the second disclosure by Treasury on Friday of apparent attempts to lobby Treasury Under Secretary for Domestic Finance Peter Fisher on Enron's (ENE: Research, Estimates) behalf. Earlier Friday, the Treasury said Enron President Lawrence "Greg" Whalley had called Fisher and Fisher "inferred" Whalley wanted Fisher to ask banks to extend credit to the now-bankrupt energy-trading behemoth.

Treasury spokeswoman Michele Davis told reporters Rubin had asked Fisher "what he thought of the idea of Fisher placing a call to ratings agencies to encourage them to work with Enron's bankers to see if there is an alternative to an immediate downgrade."

"Fisher responded that he didn't think it advisable to make such a call. Rubin said he thought that was a reasonable position. Fisher made no such call," Davis said.

Rubin is chairman of the executive committee of financial services company Citigroup Inc. Citigroup had a financial exposure to Enron but on Nov. 30 ratings agency Moody's Investors Services said the exposure was "manageable."

A call to Citigroup's New York office for comment was not immediately returned.

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Clinton's Commerce Department Ruled by Judge as ``hooligans'' and ``scofflaws.''and have demonstrated a disregard for the law

From here:
"Instead, the Commerce Department engaged in a cover-up of the secret meetings with the CSPP and Podesta Associates employees at the White House. No notification was issued for the secret meetings, nor for the classified materials offered to any other company.

Nor is John Podesta the only top Clinton official involved in potential criminal activity with super-computers and Ron Brown. According to documents provided by the Commerce Department, White House official Robert Rubin, and U.S. Trade Rep. Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky were both involved in policy meetings with the CSPP. A May 1994 "CONFIDENTIAL" letter to Ron Brown, partially withheld by the Commerce Department, states the CSPP held a meeting with Brown, Robert Rubin and "Amb. Barshefsky" where super-computer exports to China and Russia were discussed.

However, Rubin was soliciting campaign donations from CSPP members at the same time. In November 1994, DNC million dollar donor Sanford Robertson wrote a letter to President Clinton, thanking him for the August 1994 trade trip to China and he included a "P.S." about Robert Rubin.

Robertson wrote to Clinton the smoking gun of Chinagate, a letter directly implicating the President in trade trips in exchange for money. The Robertson letter states, "PS - Bob Rubin came to our home on Thursday for a Dianne Feinstein dinner, which raised over $100,000 for her campaign. Bob, of course, turned out the financial community and Silicon Valley."

Ron Brown's Indonesia trip
"Another major part of U.S. taxpayer financing for the Paiton project was obtained through the EXPORT-IMPORT bank (EXIM). Several of the Indonesian projects listed in the Commerce document note that EXIM head Ken Brody worked closely with Brown on Indonesia financing. Ken Brody is also a close friend of Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. Rubin worked with Brody during his years at the investment firm Goldman Sachs.

Furthermore, the EXIM bank under Brody financed over $4 billion dollars worth of gas deals with another energy company, Enron. Enron is also an Akim/Gump client. In fact, Enron executives traveled with Ron Brown in 1994 on trade missions to Russia, Indonesia and China, cutting EXIM and OPIC backed deals in each country. Enron is not only another Akin/Gump client but it is listed as one of forty-four such companies in which Rubin had "significant contact" with during his years at Goldman Sachs."

Hooligans, scofflaws, cover-ups, secret meetings, destruction of evidence, funny money, no accountability, audit shams, bribes, receiving money for doing nothing.....

Hey, Robert Rubin qualifies to replace Alan Greenspan.

"The Three Marketeers"
We offer as "Exhibit A" the Time magazine cover story for February 15, 1999, which must surely rank as one of the most extraordinary propaganda and disinformation pieces of this decade, if not of this century. Along with the headline, "The Committee to Save the World," the cover featured the beaming visages of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, then- Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, and Deputy Treasury Secretary (now Treasury Secretary) Lawrence Summers, with this riveting subtitle: "The inside story of how the Three Marketeers have prevented a global economic meltdown — so far."

Citi's Rubin made a call for Enron Ex-Treasury chief sought help to deal with credit agencies

Robert Rubin had worked closely with Enron when he was with Goldman Sachs. He recused himself from dealing with Enron matters during his first year in the White House as Clinton’s economic adviser, but not when he became Treasury secretary in 1994. According to the Houston Chronicle, Enron got permission to build a pipeline from Mozambique to South Africa after National Security Adviser Anthony Lake threatened to withhold aid to Mozambique if it didn’t approve the project.

Enron, which closed a deal, backed by the U.S. Export-Import Bank, to develop European markets for Russian gas, has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Administration's export policy. During the past two years, the Ex-Im Bank has supported Enron's agreements with Turkey, India, the Philippines and China - deals worth nearly $4 billion. Kenneth Brody, head of the Ex-Im Bank, is a close friend of Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, having worked with Rubin at Goldman, Sachs. Enron is listed on Rubin's 1993 financial disclosure statement as one of the forty-four companies with which Rubin had "significant contact" during his years at the investment firm. (Brody, by the way, is said to be a leading candidate to take over at Commerce if Brown, under investigation for everything from slumlording to collecting $400,000 for his "share" in a company in which he had invested nothing, is forced to resign.)

[Uncle Bill]

Enron execs regulars on Clinton trade trips Company gave $100,000 after Lay got seat on lucrative junket to India - Paul Sperry

Robert Rubin Asked Treasury About Aid to Enron
"Lay called Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Oct. 26. "We will not characterize the conversation," a Fed spokeswoman said. "The chairman did nothing in response to the call because it would have been inappropriate."

Special counsel needed for Enron probe? Legal group wants Bush, Clinton ties to energy giant probed

Hidden Numbers Crushed Enron - 'Partnerships' Shielded $600 Million Debt

Japan's MMFs Lose Y3 Tln On Month On Enron Bonds - Nikkei

Yahoo Finance
Saturday, December 1, 2001 1:57AM

TOKYO (Nikkei)--Outstanding assets of Japan's domestic money management funds as of Friday declined by more than Y3 trillion from a month earlier as a result of four MMFs that included bonds issued by Enron Corp. (ENE) in their portfolios falling below par. The asset total was Y18 trillion as of the end of October, The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported in Saturday morning edition.

MMF holders, mainly companies, apparently canceled contracts even for those not falling below par, as they began doubting the safety of the financial products widely seen as relatively low-risk investments.

The president of UFJ Partners Asset Management Co., which included Enron bonds in its portfolio, will resign before his term expires next June. To prepare for massive cancellations, UFJ Partners has sold off all Enron bonds included in the MMF and switched over to assets with little price movement, such as cash and certificates of deposit. The company says there will be almost no additional losses.

Nikko Asset Management Co., Japan Investment Trust Management Co. and Sumisei Global Investment Trust Management Co. also said they increased the percentage of cash in their portfolios.

Several medium-term government bond funds also fell below par since September, undermining their image as a safe investment vehicle.

Asset management companies and others handling bond investment trusts are trying to reassure customers by disclosing the contents of their portfolios.

Copyright © 2001 Dow Jones & Company Inc. All rights reserved

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THE DEBT SET: Consumers are carrying $1.6 trillion in credit
NOTE: Mortgage debt has jumped to $7 trillion.

Justice Dept: Enron Funded Ashcroft
Flashback: Clinton Official Met With Enron chairman
Bob Rubin Conspires To Help Enron Defraud American Taxpayers, Then Sheepishly Backs Off
Andersen's Future at Stake After Enron
Conservatives turn on Bush over Enron
Enron's Lay called Greenspan in October
Parties Weigh Political Price of Enron's Fall
Bush and Democrats Disputing Ties to Enron
No smoking gun to be seen on the Enron scandal trail

Wednesday December 12, 6:10 PM

Former Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew S. Fastow (R) appears with his lawyer David Boise at a news conference in New York December 12, 2001. The Securities and Exchange Commission said on Wednesday it brought a subpoena enforcement action against Fastow, charging that Fastow failed to comply with an October subpoena to appear before the regulatory agency. REUTERS/Mike Segar (Reuters)

[Uncle Bill]

ENRON Wire

White House is scrambling to blunt the political fallout

Enron asked the Bush administration to intervene with banks late last year, the Treasury Department disclosed

Enron probe and intrigue widen

Enron Corp., the collapsed energy trader, has chosen a Swiss bank, UBS AG, to take control of its main energy trading business, a lawyer for Enron said Friday. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.

Enron executives still living well

[Uncle Bill]

BLACKOUT: Interview of Kenneth Lay
PBS:Your company and you have been very big supporters of George W. Bush, of his father, and in contributions that you've made to the campaign.

Kenneth Lay: I've been a strong financial and political supporter of, first, President Bush Sr. when he was running for president, and even when he ran for president a time or two and failed. And then certainly when he ran for president and was elected in 1988. [I'm] very close to the family, to Barbara Bush and the kids.

When Governor Bush--now President Bush--decided to run for the governor's spot, [there was] a little difficult situation--I 'd worked very closely with Ann Richards also, the four years she was governor. But I was very close to George W. and had a lot of respect for him, had watched him over the years, particularly with reference to dealing with his father when his father was in the White House and some of the things he did to work for his father, and so did support him.

...I think you need to keep in mind also, for better or for worse, we had a lot of access in the Clinton administration. Certainly [former Secretary of Energy Bill] Richardson called on me and Enron on a number of occasions to at least discuss different energy matters, [I] was asked a few times even by then-Chief of Staff Mack McLarty about various energy matters, and [former Treasury Secretary Robert] Rubin on other matters. As a major energy company in the country doing a lot of international business too, we have a lot of reason to, in fact, talk with different officials in our government just like they have many reasons to talk with us."

Lay quietly exits Compaq's board

Enron Archive

Texas Attorney General John Cornyn, who has accepted $193,000 in campaign contributions from Enron and its executives since 1997, withdrew Friday from participating in his office's investigation into the bankrupt energy company.

Attorney General John Ashcroft Recuses Himself From Enron Investigation