|
Bush/Enron Chronology
rev 0.16
26 May 2002
Jim Galasyn
no copyright - freely distribute intact
|
|
|
Bush/Enron Chronology
rev 0.16
26 May 2002
Jim Galasyn
no copyright - freely distribute intact
|
|
|
Keeping partnerships such as Jedi off its balance sheet was a paramount concern for Enron. The company created scores of partnerships so it could keep their debts off its balance sheet. In Jedi's case, as much as $711 million in debts were held off the books, according to SEC filings.
But here s the catch. While Enron was making billions selling energy stability, they were busy pushing a deregulation agenda across the nation. In Montana, as is well-known, the 1997 Republican-dominated Legislature, at the urging of then-Governor Marc Racicot, suspended the rules of the Legislature to introduce and pass the dereg bill in the last weeks of the session. Suddenly, substituting raw political power for careful policymaking, Montana found itself one of the few western states to leap into dereg and oh, how we now wish we had looked a lot harder before that tragic leap.
The Islamic warriors appear to have been persuaded to close the deal, not through delicate negotiation but by old-fashioned Texan hospitality. Last week Unocal, the Houston-based company bidding to build the 876-mile pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan, invited the Taliban to visit them in Texas...The Taliban ministers and their advisers stayed in a five-star hotel and were chauffeured in a company minibus...The men, who are accustomed to life without heating, electricity or running water, were amazed by the luxurious homes of Texan oil barons. Invited to dinner at the palatial home of Martin Miller, a vice-president of Unocal, they marvelled at his swimming pool, views of the golf course and six bathrooms. After a meal of specially prepared halal meat, rice and Coca-Cola, the hardline fundamentalists - who have banned women from working and girls from going to school - asked Mr Miller about his Christmas tree.
Tom White was there every step of the way. He was the leader.Steve Barth , former vice president of special projects for EES, on mark-to-market accounting practices approved by Thomas White
Mr. Skilling noted that due to changes in the accounting treatment of off-balance-sheet transactions, the company had been analyzing new types of financing vehicles. He called on Mr. Fastow to discuss the proposal.Ken Lay , Enron CEO, as described in Enron meeting minutes
It seems that Enron is spending a lot of money and time to get Bush elected. I don't think this is something a corporation should focus on, do you?Enron employee, at a videotaped meeting
This strategy appears not to present any problems, other than a public relations risk arising from the fact that such [electricity] exports may have contributed to California's declaration of a Stage 2 Emergency yesterday.Enron lawyers, in an internal Enron memo describing market-rigging tactics
Can Watson be replaced now at the request of the U.S.?, Enron fax to White House, demanding the removal of Dr. Robert Watson as IPCC chairman
I would love to meet with Ken.Jeb Bush , Governor of Florida, in an email reply to Bill Bryant, a lobbyist representing Ken Lay
A moment of truth is arriving. The question is whether environmental policy still prevails over energy policy with Bush-Cheney, as it did with Clinton-Gore.Haley Barbour , former RNC chairman, in a memo to Cheney, lobbying on behalf of the coal industry
We are the good guys. We are on the side of the angels. We are doing the right thing. We are looking to create open, competitive, fair markets. And in open, competitive, fair markets, prices are lower and customers get better service.Jeff Skilling, on PBS Frontline
It became obvious that EES had been doing deals for two years and was losing money on almost all the deals they had booked. EES has knowingly misrepresented EES' earnings. This is common knowledge among all the EES employees.Margaret Ceconi , EES sales manager, in a letter to Ken Lay
You're the only financial institution that can't produce a balance sheet or a cash flow statement with their earnings.Richard Grubman , Analyst with Highfields Capital Management, in an Enron conference call with Wall Street analysts
The cause of the outrageous prices is the exercise of raw market power.Michael Kahn , chairman of the board of governors of the California Independent System Operator
You know what the difference is between the state of California and the Titanic? At least when the Titanic went down, the lights were on.Jeff Skilling , Enron CEO, at the Strategic Directions technology conference in Las Vegas
Some would say the house of cards are falling. You are potentially facing shareholder lawsuits, employee lawsuits, heat from analysts and newspapers. The market has lost all confidence, and it's obvious why.Margaret Ceconi , Enron Energy Services manager, in an email to Enron's board of directors
The cozy relationship between Bush and the Taliban frustrated the investigative efforts of former Deputy Director of the FBI John O'Neill. O'Neill was the FBI's chief bin Laden hunter, in charge of the investigations into the bin Laden-connected bombings of the World Trade Center in 1993, the destruction of an American troop barracks in Saudi Arabia in 1996, the African embassy bombings in 1998, and the attack upon the U.S.S. Cole in 2000. O'Neill, quit the FBI in protest two weeks before the destruction of the World Trade Center towers.
To the embarrassment of investigators, it has also emerged that the firm used to buy many of the 'put' options where a trader, in effect, bets on a share price fall on United Airlines stock was headed until 1998 by 'Buzzy' Krongard, now executive director of the CIA...Between 6 and 7 September, the Chicago Board Options Exchange saw purchases of 4,744 "put" option contracts in UAL versus 396 call options where a speculator bets on a price rising. Holders of the put options would have netted a profit of $5m (£3.3m) once the carrier's share price dived after 11 September. On 10 September, more trading in Chicago saw the purchase of 4,516 put options in American Airlines, the other airline involved in the hijackings. This compares with a mere 748 call options in American purchased that day. Investigators cannot help but notice that no other airlines saw such trading in their put options. It was not just airlines that were targeted by remarkably canny investors. One of the biggest occupants of the World Trade Centre was Morgan Stanley, the investment bank. In the first week of September, an average of 27 put option contracts was bought each day in its shares. The total for the three days before the attacks was 2,157. Merrill Lynch, another WTC tenant, saw 12,215 put options bought in the four days before the attacks, when the previous days had seen averages of 252 contracts a day.
It's totally irrational to buy capacity from Enron. This is clearly a swap for accounting purposes.Patrick Comack , telecommunications analyst at the investment house of Guzman & Co, on Enron and Qwest Communications deal
This directive comes from the partner group and is considered very important.Chad DeJohn , Andersen computer system expert, urging staffers on the Enron team to "as soon as possible" clean out their computer files
If it's destroyed, and litigation is filed the next day, that's great, because we've followed our policy. Whatever there was that might have been of interest to someone is gone and irretrievable.Michael Odom, Andersen partner who helped oversee the firm's Enron account, on the firm's document-retention policy
[T]he Oct. 12 memo directed workers to destroy all audit material, except for the most basic "work papers." And that's what they did, over a period of several weeks...Supervisors at Arthur Andersen repeatedly reminded their employees of the document-destruction memo in the weeks leading up to the first Security and Exchange Commission subpoenas that were issued on Nov. 8. And the firm declines to rule out the possibility that some destruction continued even after that date.
In distancing himself from Enron, President Bush said that CEO Kenneth Lay "was a supporter" of Democrat Ann Richards in his first race for Texas governor in 1994. But records and interviews with people involved in the Richards campaign show that he was a far bigger Bush supporter.
In an interview with CNN, Hébert who left the FERC in August said Lay had wanted the agency to "mandate regional transmission organizations." "When I told him that I didn't think it was the right thing to do and also that there was no legal basis for it under the federal Power Act, he told me that he and his company, Enron, could no longer support me as chairman," Hébert said.
Enron workers have only themselves to blame.Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), on Enron employees' 401(k) losses
Enron robbed the bank, Arthur Andersen provided the getaway car and they say you were at the wheel.Rep. Jim Greenwood , chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations, to Andersen partner David Duncan
The people who know him closely doubt it [the suicide finding]. The family doesn't buy it.Kevin Kretz , family friend of John Clifford Baxter, at Baxter's funeral
I spent a lot of time with traders writing the software programs and they discussed how they could use tricks to get high prices for electricity.David Fabian , former Enron employee, in a letter to Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
These arrangements now appear to be nothing but a disguised loan.U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff, in his ruling for insurance companies, against Enron creditor J. P. Morgan Chase
California wants full refunds from power companies that charged unjust and unreasonable prices for short-term sales in California before October 2001.Bill Lockyer , California Attorney General
When Enron exacted its modus operandi abroad, U.S. public officials considered it good for U.S. business. Only when Enron's scandals began to affect Americans did these officials and institutions hold the corporation at arm's length.Daphne Wysham , director of SEEN
These were sham transactions, causing the price to rise with each supposed sale. The same individuals were managing these companies. They had the same employees, trading with themselves.Loretta Lynch , president of the California Public Utilities Commission
They got a lot of share for themselves when they ricocheted up the price. They fed the market and were a leading participant in it.S Freeman , chairman of the California Power Authority
The department has failed to point to a single post-Watergate incident where an administration investigated one of its own high-ranking officials where there was substantial and credible allegation of wrongdoing, as is clearly the case with respect to Secretary White.Rep. John Conyers D-MI , chairman of the California Power Authority, on the refusal of the Justice department to appoint an Enron special prosecutor
US support was, of course, an important factor. They came under a lot of pressure from ExxonMobil who asked the White House to try and remove me.Dr Robert Watson, on the loss of the IPCC chair to the US-backed candidate
No matter how cynical you would have been about Enron, it's defied all of them in terms of being worse than imagined. They were making it up as they were going along apparently, but $14 billion is real dollars. This thing is just a staggering number to me.John Olson , Analyst, Houston investment bank Sanders Morris Harris
The marketer-speculators are destroying North America's natural gas business by promoting unwarranted price volatility. Producers have no idea where the price of gas is going to be tomorrow, much less a year or two from now...so we drill fewer and fewer wells.Raymond Plank , Chief Executive of Apache Corp.
These documents prove that these companies can manipulate the market. Enron prevented California from seeing these documents for years, and now we know why.Loretta Lynch , president of the California Public Utilities Commission
About $30 billion was extorted from this state. Those who claimed that there was no price manipulation here were just plain wrong.California Governor Gray Davis, on market rigging by energy traders
In our view, all of the large market participants engaged in these games in one way or another.Joseph Dunn , California State Senator, on anti-competitive behavior of energy companies in California
The Bush administration and congressional Republicans sided with the energy companies and did nothing to help.Rep. Henry Waxman , D-CA, on market rigging by energy traders in California
We are watching Dynegy very closely. We are concerned about the credit downgrade. Clearly they are having difficulties. I think it's very likely that people have stopped trading with them. We are in delicate negotiations with them over credit issues., Unnamed British utility executive , on the dire situation of Dynegy
FERC is the Federal Enron Rubber-stamping Commission.Rep. Bob Filner D-San Diego
I obstructed justice. I instructed people on the [audit] team to follow the document-retention policy, which I knew would result in the destruction of documents.David Duncan , Andersen lead partner overseeing the Enron account, on Enron document shredding at Andersen
As I learned about Enron's trading practices, I became increasingly concerned. We advised Enron in a face-to-face meeting that deceptive trading practices could violate the ISO tariffs as well as state criminal laws.Stephen Hall , Enron attorney, on Enron's market-rigging tactics
As disturbing as some of the strategies described in the Enron memos are, the greatest potential harm to electricity consumers in California and elsewhere comes not from 'games' that some clever traders may play, but from the persistent exercise of market power.Terry Winter , chief executive officer of Cal ISO, on market-rigging tactics used against California ratepayers by energy trading companies
As I continued to think about these things, you know, I realized that I did have a view on the timeliness of all of this occurring. And that view was that it was a good time for all of this to occur, in my estimation, because of the events that were escalating at Enron. And I wanted at that time to take responsibility for those actions.David Duncan , Andersen lead partner overseeing the Enron account, on Enron document shredding at Andersen
The same circuit got traded back and forth. The idea was to book more transactions and get a market going.Former Reliant executive, on sham transactions in the nascent broadband market
If it's destroyed, and litigation is filed the next day, that's great, because we've followed our policy. Whatever there was that might have been of interest to someone is gone and irretrievable.Michael Odom, Andersen partner who helped oversee the firm's Enron account, on the firm's document-retention policy