THE FIRST DOMINO AT ENRON
EDITORIAL FINANCIAL TIMES
22 de Agosto de 2002

Tras ocho meses de investigación del caso Enron por parte del Departamento de Justicia, empiezan a salir nombres de altos cargos implicados en la quiebra de la compañía norteamericana. Michael Kopper, directivo de la empresa ha sido el primero en declararse culpable de los cargos de que se le acusan y con su colaboración se espera un efecto dominó que arrastre al resto de directivos implicados.

TEXTO FINANCIAL
Eight months into the Justice Department's investigation of the financial shenanigans that led to Enron's unexpected bankruptcy and triggered a crisis of confidence in financial markets, federal prosecutors have reeled in a big fish. Yesterday Michael Kopper, a former managing director of Enron's global finance unit, pleaded guilty to federal money-laundering and fraud charges. Mr. Kopper was responsible for setting up and running some of the notorious off-the-books partnerships that bore names like Chewco.

The Justice Department task force pursuing the Enron case previously obtained a criminal conviction against the accounting firm Arthur Andersen, but these are the first criminal charges brought against an Enron insider. Because Mr. Kopper, who is 37, is cooperating with the prosecution, it is all but certain that more charges will follow. A domino effect could take place among other former executives negotiating plea bargains.

Mr. Kopper may prove especially helpful in the effort to build cases against the company's former chief financial officer, Andrew Fastow; its former chief executive officer, Jeffrey Skilling; and possibly even its former chairman, Kenneth Lay.

Mr. Fastow, the financier credited with devising the scheme to conceal Enron debt in ostensibly independent partnerships, seems to have the most to worry about. Mr. Kopper has variously been described as his close friend, protégé and lieutenant, but he may soon become — above all else — his chief accuser.

In describing in court yesterday the partnerships that so ingeniously hid Enron debt, inflated its earnings and covertly enriched a small number of company executives, Mr. Kopper said he gave Mr. Fastow large kickbacks from the fees he obtained for managing the partnerships. Emboldened prosecutors then moved to freeze more than $20 million of Mr. Fastow's assets.

Mr. Kopper's management of some of these partnerships on Mr. Fastow's behalf netted him and his domestic partner profits sizable enough to shock even the other Enron executives allowed to invest in the deals, as well as the company's board of directors. As part of his plea bargain, and his settlement of a civil action by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr. Kopper, who may yet serve jail time, will pay $12 million as restitution.

That should provide little comfort to defrauded investors who lost billions or to the thousands of innocent Enron employees who lost their jobs and retirement savings because of the reckless self-dealing among executives. Prosecutors owe it to them to build on yesterday's heartening breakthrough.

Financial Times