Posted on 08/07/2002 6:26:58 PM PDT by kattracks
WASHINGTON, Aug 07, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- A Republican lawmaker is asking the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin's request last year that the Bush administration intervene to help now-bankrupt Enron Corp.
Rep. Mark Foley of Florida, one of the House Republican leaders, is sending a letter Thursday to SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt asking for an investigation.
Rubin, who left the Clinton administration in mid-1999, is chairman of the executive committee of Citigroup, one of the banks that lent hundreds of millions of dollars to Enron. As Enron spiraled toward collapse, Rubin called the Treasury Department's undersecretary for domestic finance, Peter Fisher, last Nov. 8 to seek his intervention on Enron's behalf. At the time, Wall Street credit-rating agencies were poised to downgrade their assessment of the financial status of Houston-based Enron.
The Treasury Department did not intervene.
A number of Enron officials were making calls to various administration officials at that time seeking help for the Houston-based company.
"Apart from the questionable propriety of a former Treasury secretary trying to solicit financial favors from former colleagues at a department he once led, I would ask that you investigate all (Enron stock) trades submitted by Citigroup and/or its subsidiaries and their clients in the two weeks preceding Mr. Rubin's call to Mr. Fisher as well as the two weeks following the call," Foley told Pitt in the letter.
"Credit reports are viewed by investors in order to determine the financial soundness of a company before investing capital in that company's equity stock," Foley wrote. "It is imperative that we know what the consequences were on stock actions by Mr. Rubin's apparent attempt at interfering on behalf of Enron - a company that Citigroup had, and has, a financial interest in."
On Nov. 28, Moody's Investors Service downgraded Enron's bonds to junk status. Enron filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors four days later.
SEC spokesmen couldn't immediately be reached for comment Wednesday night.
A Rubin spokesman has said he "had prefaced the call (to Fisher) by saying, 'This may not be the best idea,' and in the end agreed with Fisher that it wasn't a good idea."
Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved
As Secretary of the Treasury, Rubin--and by extension, Clinton--was ultimately in charge of the SEC that refused to prosecute--or even aggressively investigate--rampant Corporate Corruption. This is a Dereliction of Duty, IMHO...is Dereliction of Duty a prosecutable crime?! If so, Rubin ought to have the book thrown at him, as, of course, should Janet Reno.
FReegards...MUD
Maybe not..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.