GOP Lawmaker Seeks SEC Probe ("Enron" Rubin/"Global Crossing" McAuliffe watch

WASHINGTON (AP) - 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 ( news - web sites)'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.

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.

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."

It's a good thing. Here's similar news:

SEC asked to look into Rubin's call

Florida congressman questions Enron-related call from former treasury secretary.
August 8, 2002: 1:57 PM EDT
By Scott Spoerry, CNNfn Senior Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN/Money) - 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.

In a letter obtained by CNNfn, Florida Congressman Mark Foley asks SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt for an investigation of Rubin, now a high-ranking official with Citigroup.

It's been known that Rubin, who served through most of the two-term Clinton administration, put in a call to the current treasury undersecretary for domestic finance, Peter Fisher, on Nov. 8, 2001.

The purpose of the call was to ask for help to reassure nervous lenders about Enron's financial credibility. Fisher is on record as saying that he decided to do nothing in response to Rubin's call.

In the letter dated Thursday, Foley tells Pitt, "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's letter notes, "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. ...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."

Rubin joined Citigroup in 1999, a few months after he stepped down as treasury secretary near the end of the Clinton presidency. A company Web site lists Rubin as a director, chairman of the executive committee, a member of the Office of the Chairman of Citigroup Inc., and a member of the Citigroup Management Committee.

Rubin cannot be reached immediately for comments.

LOL...

Hey buddy, I just ran accross another McAuliffe Scandal in an article--"Get Cheney"--by Byron York in the 12 August 2002 issue of National Review...

"While it is well known that McAuliffe made millions from a well-timed investment in the now-bankrupt Global Crossing, a number of other big paydays in his past have received less notice. For example, in the 1990s McAuliffe entered into a deal with a union pension fund to purchase Florida real estate. McAuliffe put up $100, the union put up $39 million, and the two became 50/50 partners; McAuliffe eventually pocketed $2.45 million from his $100 investment. After a Labor Department investigation, the union officials involved were forced to pay heavy penalties for entering into an imprudent deal with McAuliffe."

The maggot gets around, don't he?!

FReegards...MUD

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