SEC goes after lawyers

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Houston Chronicle

March 29, 2007, 1:21AM
SEC goes after lawyers
Complaint says Enron's in-house counsel bears some responsibility

By KRISTEN HAYS
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Two former in-house Enron lawyers have been charged with civil violations of securities laws by fudging or omitting regulatory filing disclosures.

In a civil complaint filed Wednesday in Houston, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that Rex Rogers, once associate general counsel at Enron, failed to properly or fully disclose to investors that former Chairman Ken Lay sold more than $86 million in Enron stock back to the company to repay company loans in 2000 and 2001.

The complaint also alleges that Jordan Mintz, once the general counsel for Enron's finance group, participated in fraud in 2001 by arranging murky disclosures of Enron's repurchase of a money-losing Brazilian power plant from a partnership run by former finance chief Andrew Fastow.

"We're bringing a case against lawyers who are traditionally viewed as gatekeepers," said Fredric Firestone, associate director of the SEC's division of enforcement in Washington, D.C. "Unfortunately, they used their expertise to further aid and abet Enron's massive fraud."





Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4670329.html

[valerief]

1. Is it me or does Rex Rogers sound like a porn name? nt