We're off to see the Wizard!

[assmonkey]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040707/D83M69SO0.html

 

Lay Indicted in Enron's Collapse

Jul 7, 5:02 PM (ET)

 

By KRISTEN HAYS

 

 

HOUSTON (AP) - Former Enron Corp. chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay has been indicted on criminal charges related to the energy company's collapse as a web of accounting schemes unraveled, sources close to the case told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

 

Lay, the company's founder, was expected to surrender to federal authorities Thursday, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Two sources said the indictment against Lay, 62, was expected to be unsealed upon or shortly after his surrender to the FBI.

 

Prosecutors from the Justice Department's Enron Task Force presented an indictment to U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Milloy in Houston on Wednesday. At their request, the judge sealed both the indictment and an arrest warrant.

 

A hearing before Milloy was scheduled for late Thursday morning.

 

 

Michael Ramsey, Lay's attorney, didn't immediately return a call for comment. Lay has consistently maintained his innocence.

 

It was unclear specifically what charges Lay would face.

 

But the sources said they probably would allege he participated in hiding Enron's dire financial condition from investors, analysts and the public in the weeks before the energy company crumbled into bankruptcy in December 2001.

 

Prosecutors have aggressively pursued the one-time friend and contributor to President Bush who led Enron's rise to No. 7 in the Fortune 500 and resigned within weeks of its stunning failure. Barring last-minute delays, Lay is the 30th and highest-profile individual charged.

 

Enron had more than 20,000 employees worldwide before the company imploded amid revelations of hidden debt, inflated profits and accounting tricks.

 

The company's collapse led a series of corporate scandals that sent investors fleeing and sparked numerous investigations. Thousands of Enron's workers lost their jobs and stock fell from a high of $90 in August 2000 to just pennies.

 

The charges against Lay come 2 1/2 years after the federal government launched its painstaking investigation.

 

The indictment takes the task force to the top of the fallen company's former senior management. Former CEO Jeffrey Skilling and former top accountant Richard Causey are awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy, fraud and insider trading. Both pleaded innocent and are free on bond.

 

And waiting to testify for the prosecution is former finance chief Andrew Fastow, who pleaded guilty to two conspiracy counts in January. Fastow admitted to engineering partnerships and financial schemes to hide Enron debt and inflate profits while pocketing millions for himself.

[assmonkey]

GIVE IT BACK, GEORGE: THE LAY LOOT THAT BOUGHT WHITE HOUSE

Bush and Republicans Should Give Up Ill-Gotten Gains

by Greg Palast

 

When the feds swoop down and cuff racketeers, they also load the vans

with all the perp's ill-gotten gains: stacks of cash, BMWs, whatever.

Their associates have to cough up the goodies too: lady friends must give

up their diamond rocks.

 

Under the racketeering law, RICO, even before a verdict, anything

bought with the proceeds of the crime goes into the public treasury.

 

But there seems to be special treatment afforded those who loaded up on

the 'bennies' of Ken Lay's crimes. If the G-men don't know where the

tainted loot is cached, try this address: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Ask

for George or Dick.

 

Ken Lay and his Enron team are the Number One political career donors

to George W. Bush. Mr. Lay and his Mrs., with no money to pay back

bilked creditors, still managed to personally put up $100,000 for George's

inaugural Ball plus $793,110 for personal donations to Republicans.

Lay's Enron team dropped $4.2 million into the party that let Enron party.

 

OK now, Mr. President, give it back - the millions stuffed in the

pockets of the Republican campaign kitty stolen from his Enron retirees.

 

And what else did Ken Lay buy with the money stolen from California

electricity customers? Answer: the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Just before George Bush moved to Washington, Kenny-Boy handed his

hand-picked president-to-be the name of the man Ken wanted as Chairman of the

commission charged with investigating Enron's thievery. In a heartbeat,

George Bush appointed Ken's boy, Pat Wood.

 

Think about that: the criminal gets to pick the police chief. Well,

George, give it back. Dump Wood and end the "de-criminalization" of

electricity price-gouging that you and Cheney and Wood laughably call

"de-regulation." Give us back the government Lay bought with crime cash.

 

And while we're gathering up the ill-gotten loot, let's stop by Brother

Jeb's. The Governor of Florida picked up a cool $2 million from a

Houston fundraiser at the home of Enron's former president long AFTER the

company went bankrupt. Enron, not incidentally, obtained half a billion

of Florida state pension money -- which has now disappeared down the

Enron rat-hole.

 

And Mr. Vice-President, don't you also have something to give back? In

secret meetings with Dick Cheney in the Veep's bunker prior to the

inauguration and after, you let Ken and his cohorts secretly draft the

nation's energy plan - taking a short break to eye oil field maps of Iraq.

Let us remember that the President's sticky-fingered brothers Neil and

Marvin were on Enron's payroll, hired to sell pipelines to the Saudis.

The Saudis didn't bite, but maybe a captive Iraq would be more pliant.

 

So, Mr. Law and Order President, please follow the law and give up the

Energy Plan that Mr. Lay bought with other people's money.

 

When I worked as a racketeering investigator for government, nothing

was spared, including houses bought with purloined loot. Let there be no

exception here. It's time to tape up the White House gate and hang the

sign: "Crime Scene: Property to be Confiscated. Vacate Premises

Immediately."

 

***

Greg Palast is an internationally recognized expert on electricity

deregulation and power company racketeering. Co-author of the United

Nations guide to power industry regulation, Palast's investigation of Enron

won Britain's prize for top business story of the year in 1998 (with

Antony Barnett of the Observer). Palast investigated Enron's influence on

the Bush Administration for BBC Television's newsnight and his expose

of Ken Lay's manipulation of the California power markets and litigation

won a 2004 Project Censored Award from California State University at

Sonoma's Journalism School. Palast's book, the New York Times

bestseller, "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy," includes a summary of his

investigations on Enron: "California Reamin': the real story of deregulation

and the power pirates."

 

No link yet, forwarded to me, but I'm sure it's Palast.

 

- a s s m n k e y

[assmonkey]

"Ok, who here financially raped the American public. Show of hands please."

 

 

Note the spiffy cufflink.

 

- a s s m * n k e y

[bunglehead]

I hope that fucker goes to jail for a looong time if he's guilty, which he probably is.