What the article did not do was to link Enron to Wyatt. Wyatt's connections to Enron are at the beginning and end of Ken Lay's tenure. Wyatt owned the pipeline company (Coastal) that was sold/taken over by Ken Lay which later became Enron (so much more yet so much less than a pipeline company). After the fall of Enron, Wyatt returned, as part of El Paso Energy, to buy the pipeine portion of Enron out of Bankruptcy. A judge did not allow the sale.
So Wyatt is not one of the famed Enron "let's name phoney companies after Chewbaca" crooks, but there is a story there...and Miller and Co so far have chosen not to touch it
more
http://anna.dailykos.com/story/2004/10/9/183058/896Old Raiders Never Die--They Just Get Even
Oscar Wyatt lost a ton of money on El Paso. Now he's trying to throw the bums out. And he just may succeed.
By Julie Creswell
In 1984, Oscar S. Wyatt Jr., the legendary oilman and corporate raider, made a $1.3 billion hostile bid for Houston Natural Gas Corp. Wyatt was building a network of natural-gas pipelines that would snake around the country. At the time Houston Natural was one of the biggest and most profitable pipeline operators anywhere, and Wyatt wanted it.
Houston Natural had other ideas. To rebuff the raider's play, it offered to buy all the stock in Wyatt's own company, Coastal Corp. Wyatt was furious. A legal battle ensued, and Wyatt eventually walked away--but only after he had forced Houston Natural to buy back his stake at a $14.6 million after-tax profit. Later Houston Natural's CEO, Kenneth Lay (yes, that Kenneth Lay--the company changed its name to Enron in 1985), described Wyatt as "incredibly tenacious." As Lay put it, "Once Wyatt decides he wants to accomplish something, he continues to pursue it until he gets what he wants or runs into a brick wall."
Twenty years, several hundred million dollars, and a few brick walls later, Oscar Wyatt is back, and he wants something--this time, El Paso. In one of the biggest proxy battles in a decade, Wyatt, 78, has teamed up with another major El Paso shareholder, Selim Zilkha, 76, to try to wrest control of the nation's largest natural-gas pipeline company from its management and board of directors. The shootout will occur in mid-June in Houston at El Paso's annual meeting, where shareholders will vote to either keep El Paso's board or replace it with a new slate of directors and CEO, all handpicked by Wyatt and Zilkha. Wyatt isn't seeking a seat on the board, but Zilkha is; their chances of winning, as we'll see later, seem to be improving by the day.
Why would Wyatt and Zilkha, at this point in their lives, mount an exhausting, expensive, and time-consuming proxy battle? Because they're really mad. Each had tied up a huge chunk of his personal wealth in El Paso stock, and together they have lost nearly $900 million on paper... Continue
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/investing/articles/0,15114,457435,00.htmlfrom Gman in LBN
OMG!! Oscar Wyatt Jr?!
Its a very long story, (and I hope I remember it correectly) but way back in the mid-70's, Wyatt (Sr.) owned Coastal States Gas which had contracts to supply natural gas to San Antonio. During the energy crisis, Coastal and others cornered the natural gas market and jacked up the price of natural gas artificially. San Antonio at the time generated all of its electricity with natural gas which was considered the cheapest, cleanest and most reliable source of energy. But as a result of the price gouging, electricity costs went through the roof. San Antonio, and others, sued Wyatt and won. As a result, Valero Energy was formed to supply natural gas to San Antonio. In the meantime, SA started plans to move to coal power and has been on coal now to this day. Wyatt was the most hated man in Texas at that time.
Freepers have been crying about Saddam, France and others and this oil for food program. They've also been screaming for Bush to use it somehow against Kerry as another reason Saddam had to go and that the media was ignoring it or covering it up. This whole thing may well end up being a "be careful what you ask for" thing for the Freepers because if this thing is touching Texas Energy companies I can guarantee you it will also touch Bush, Halliburton and Cheney directly.
This may be the OCTOBER SURPRISE!