AP: Enron Trial Set to Resume

[PhilipShore]

Enron Trial Set to Resume
By KRISTEN HAYS
The Associated Press
Tuesday, February 21, 2006

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/21/AR2006022100186.html

HOUSTON -- A woman who assured her Enron Corp. superiors that she had never illegally traded the company's stock and later pleaded guilty to insider trading is to testify in the fraud and conspiracy trial of Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling.

Paula Rieker, 51, is among 16 ex-Enron executives who have pleaded guilty to crimes and are helping prosecutors in hopes that the government will recommend lenient punishments.

Lay and Skilling are accused of repeatedly lying to investors about Enron's financial health when they allegedly knew their optimism hid chaos and weak performance.

Skilling faces 31 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors, while Lay faces seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. If convicted, both face decades in prison. Both sold millions of dollars in stock before Enron went bankrupt, but only Skilling faces allegations of improper stock sales.

[bananas]

1. Houston Chronicle is blogging the trial with an rss feed

http://blogs.chron.com/enrontrialwatch/
http://www.chron.com/rss/enrontrialwatch/index.rdf

[PhilipShore]

2. CNN International: British bankers lose Enron battle

CNN International
British bankers lose Enron battle
February 21, 2006

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/02/21/britain.enron/

LONDON, England -- Three British bankers are reported to have lost a legal battle over the U.S. government's attempt to extradite them from the UK on fraud charges related to the Enron scandal.

Former NatWest investor specialists David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew and Giles Darby failed on Tuesday in their challenge to the legality of extradition orders made by a Bow Street district judge and confirmed by Home Secretary Charles Clarke, the UK's Press Association reported.

The U.S. government's legal team described it as a classic trans-national crime, with some of the conduct occurring in the UK, some in the U.S. and some in the Cayman Islands tax haven.

Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling are currently on trial in Houston, Texas, charged with several counts of fraud and conspiracy. If convicted, they could spend the rest of their lives in prison.