FOIA,Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and SEC Chris Cox's Enron,Merrill Lynch, Latham & Watkins conflict of interest





So SEC Chairman Christopher 'WMDS' Cox who lies about 'securities' the way he lied about WMDs in Iraq that sent thousands upon thousands of people to their deaths while allowing money to be laundered around the world post 911,including in known terrorist suspect money laundering havens such as Kuala Lumpur and Dubai through the help of U.S. 'market makers' such as Charles Schwab,Refco, vFinance,etc.,etc.,is being asked through use of the Freedom of Information Act or FOIA about conflict of interest in sweeping his law firm's former clients corrupt involvement with Enron under the rug.Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales also deserves much of the discredit for what is going on inside and outside the SEC as well.


But Christopher Cox could not sweep massive illegal pumps and dumps of worthless U.S. penny stocks around the world under the rug without Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales help or at least his willingness to look the other way and use the cry of 'terrorism ' as an excuse not only for W Bush's human rights violations at home and abroad but to keep any ethical FBI agents who may still be on the payroll too distracted supposedly hunting 'terrorists' that they never find and stop the SEC'S AND CHRIS COX'S PENNY STOCK CLIENTS FROM RUNNING SCAMS FROM THE U.S. TO AUSTRIA TO BERMUDA AND THE CARRIBEAN TO KUALA LUMPUR,DUBAI AND PLACES IN BETWEEN !

And there is every reason to believe based upon where these shares are ending up in boiler rooms around the world and dumped on investors through Refco,vFIN,UBS, CHARLES SCHWAB AND OTHER MARKET MAKERS AND STOCK BROKERS IN THE U.S. AND AROUND THE WORLD THAT THEY CAN AND DO AID FAR RIGHT CRIMINALS AND ELITES TO LAUNDER MONEY FOR WHATEVER CAUSES THEY WISH !

Thanks for aiding world wide terrorism by allowing money laundering and illegal pump and dump scams,Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales.You or one of terrorism's and international criminals dream come true.¡ Just like vFIN's W Bush White House connected penny stock con artist Charlie Patrick Garcia who touts his hispanic image to aid U.S. penny stock fraud around the world as a vFinance insider !

Even old Saudi Iraqgate and Iran Contra arms trafficker for George Herbert Walker Bush,Adnan Khashoggi,besides being wanted in Thailand for his banking and stock frauds from 1997 there is being pampered here by SEC Chairman Christopher Cox and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales even after his worthless and hyped U.S. penny stock scam GenesisIntermedia collapsed on and around 9/11 leaving at least well over $100,000,000 in losses for his defrauded investors and bag holders.

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and his masters W Bush,Dick Cheney,et.al.,must see Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales as a useful token 'minority like Condi Rice at best.And he works overtime or doesn't work at all as the case may be to protect that image.His DOJ or Department of Justice that includes the FBI, EVEN AWARDED MR.BEROWITZ WITH THE ATTORNEY GENERAL'S AWARD FOR EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE IN THE ENRON TRIAL ! And even SEC Chairman Cox's law firm awards or bribes him with a position at Cox's old law firm ! His part in the SEC and Bush White House must have been substantial.And his role in distracting the courts away from SEC Chairman Christopher Cox's and Latham & Watkins old brokerage clients must be what earned him such a prestigious position at that law firm.Can anyone say conflict of interest ? :


''Due to his work on the Enron case, Mr. Berkowitz received the Attorney General Award for Exceptional service (the highest award given to a Department of Justice employee).'' - from Berkowitz's new employers' Latham & Watkins own website.


What better reward for covering up for SEC Chairman Chris Cox's and Latham and Watkins clients at Merrill Lynch where never a discouraging word was heard about them at the federal trial controlled by Mr.Berkowitz.I wonder why ? And what better reward for covering W Bush's and other Beltway politicos past personal relationship to Ken Lay ! So Mr.Berkowitz is rewarded by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales for NOT prosecuting Enron's massive fraud and not investigating the offshore accounts that also benefitted in the massive dumping of the company's worthless shares, including onshore through brokers and market makers such as Merrill Lynch !

In fact the sheer hypocrisy reminds me of vFinance and Tim Mahoney connected penny stock scamster Charlie Patrick Garcia being awarded a Henry Gonzalez award recently. Henry Gonzalez had he been alive today would never be invited to dine at the White House as Charlie Garcia has been.It goes to show how important stock fraud is to the W Bush White House as I have atterpted to document in previous indymedia articles-posts.Tim Mahoney is the 'Reagan Republican' turned Rahm Emanuel Democrat that I will discuss further in an upcoming article.




Christopher 'WMDS' Cox the war and securities criminal and W Bush appointee to head the SEC should resign from the SEC or face criminal charges for aiding war profiteering and money laundering around the world by allowing worthless U.S. penny stock shares to be used for money laundering as well as pump and dump manipulations.This skkkumbag we call the SEC Chairman has done enough damage.

Endovasc continues to pump and dump its scammy worthless shares years after any other company would have to declare bankruptcy all because Stanford University pays con artists like Joseph Grundfest with his insider SEC connections to cover up for their involvement with James Dale Davidson and his Agora Inc and LOM of Bermuda and because of all those cover ups finally to the penny share-money laundering havens of Kuala Lumpur and Dubai.

If our soldiers only knew what Christopher Cox and his SEC has allowed to go on post 911 while sending them off to be killed or maimed in Iraq,even allowing corrupt Sabah royalty of Kuwait and the president of Israel Moshe Katsav to be corrupted with the sleazy U.S. penny stock market and giving them carte blanche to defraud Americans,some of them perhaps even family members of dead or wounded American soldiers or National Guard !

Doesn't Israel get enough American aid to pay for the salary of Israeli President Moshe Katsav ?Does he have to resort to pushing worthless penny stocks for 'UCSY' CEO Michael Zwebner and his Saudi connected con artist business partner and Islamic charity money laundering suspect Mohamed Hadid !?

And Tim Mahoney the 'Reagan Republican and now Democrat congressman from the 16th District Florida whose vFINANCE has worked with both LOM of Bermuda to defraud Americans as well as Mr.Peter Taylor's Bellador Group of Kuala Lumpur conspires with Illinois' Congressman Rahm Emanuel to bring us more of the same 'securities' and penny stock fraud to the U.S. Congress ! This corruption is what allowed Refco and Bawag Bank of Austria insiders to run massive penny stock operations for years(with U.S. penny stocks of course) that among other things is what probably caused the collapse of Bancafe of Guatemala and the looting of Guatemalans' savings !

Tim Mahoney's vFin of course is the same type of penny stock money laundering operation that Refco was and that Emanuel surely knew about.Just as he surely knows his hand picked Boca Raton and Venus, Florida Demo candidate Tim Mahoney represents the same corruption.


FOIA re SEC'S Chris Cox Enron,Merrill Lych conflict of interest

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-12-2007/0004505280&EDATE=

FOIA Demand Questions SEC Chair's Ties to Former Client and Enron Banker, Merrill Lynch



Wall Street Firm Asked SEC to Intervene Against Defrauded Enron Investors

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Details of
possible meetings and secret correspondence between Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) Chairman Christopher Cox and Enron banker Merrill Lynch, a
client of Cox's former law firm, Latham & Watkins, were demanded in a
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted today by the Foundation
for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR).
Merrill Lynch reportedly asked the SEC to weigh in on its behalf
against Enron shareholders in litigation holding the company accountable
for its complicity in the Enron fraud. The FOIA request demands information
on any meetings or communications between Cox or SEC General Counsel Brian
Cartwright and Merrill concerning the litigation, and whether either man
recused himself from discussions. The intentions of the SEC, and the
involvement of Cox or Cartwright, have not been made public.
Cox and Cartwright, who moved to the SEC from Latham & Watkins last
year, should not have been involved in discussions with Merrill Lynch due
to their former firm's close relationship with the company, according to
FTCR.
"The nation's top securities cop should be cracking the whip against
corporate fraud and Enron conspirators, not meeting secretly with a former
client and trying to slip one by American investors," said Carmen Balber,
consumer advocate with FTCR.
The SEC under Cox has moved to weaken a series of post-Enron corporate
reforms, including a sudden rule change last month that would cause
identical executive compensation packages to be disclosed very differently,
and a proposal that would allow less stringent audits of companies'
financial reporting.
"The Commission's recent moves to weaken corporate governance rules
raise further concerns that the Cox SEC is abandoning its mandate to be an
investor advocate," said Balber.
Enron shareholders were joined by the attorneys general of 30 states in
their suit charging several investment banks, including Merrill Lynch, with
complicity the Enron scandal.
Cox was appointed Chair of the SEC in 2005 amid allegations that his
deregulatory agenda as a private attorney and Congressman would prevent him
from being an investor advocate. As a Congressman, Cox sponsored the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, which made it harder for
investors to sue and recover losses due to fraud. His confirmation to the
commission was marred by questions about his involvement in an investor
scam that cost retirees and other small investors over $130 million during
his tenure at Latham and Watkins.
Read the FOIA request:
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/FOIA_Merrill.pdf



SOURCE Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights
................................................................................................................

Chris Cox's Charles Schwab conflict too

Christopher Cox's 2000 campaign contributers include Charles Schwab who the SEC has covered up for ever since discovering Schwab's and Tim Mahoney's vFINANCE HAD AIDED AND ABETTED LOM OF BERMUDA PUMP AND DUMP SCAMS AND PROBABLE MONEY LAUNDERING TOTALLING THE ACTIONS OF 'A MEDIUM SIZE BANK'.Meaning billions of dollars defrauded that was covered up by Chris Cox's SEC ! I presume based upon the SEC's cover up that Mr.Schwab's political donations to the W Bush Regime,in part from money he defrauded from his own investors-account holders,was a good cheap investment in the W Bush protection racket.


http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/detail.asp?CID=N00007124&cycle=2000

.........................................................................................................

Schwab,LOM,Vfinance cover up : :


http://www.theroyalgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041103/BUSINESS/111030075&

"The volume of LOM's US trading, whether on behalf of its customers or its own accounts, is staggering," stated Mr. Ungar. "For example, in LOM's account at Schwab, during a two-week period in 2003 – the same year in which the SHEP and Sedona transactions in question occurred – LOM bought or sold, on over 4,000 different occasions, a total of 151 million shares of US securities traded over various US securities markets."
The trader at Florida-based vFinance who was in charge of LOM's account testified that "LOM's trading over the US markets was more than the trading of most US regional banks" and that he "either accumulated or liquidated millions of shares a day for them", stated Mr. Ungar.

- Above quote from The Royal Gazette of Bermuda using SEC disclosure obtained by David Marchant of Know Yoiur Client or http://www.offshorebusiness.com

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_M._Berkowitz

Sean M. Berkowitz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Sean M. Berkowitz (born 1967) is the former director of the Enron Task Force. He was charged with prosecuting former employees of Enron, who are thought to have engaged in white collar crime, principally accounting fraud. He was lead prosecutor in the joint trial of Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. In 2006, shortly after securing guilty verdicts against both, Berkowitz left the Department of Justice to become a partner at Latham & Watkins LLP in Chicago.

Berkowitz was assigned to the Task Force in December 2003 from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois, where he led many high-profile prosecutions of white collar crime and corporate fraud. Prior to his five years at the United States Department of Justice, Berkowitz worked for the law firm Katten Muchin Zavis, now Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, in Chicago, Illinois...............

Lay and Skilling trial

Berkowitz cross-examined Jeffrey K. Skilling (Enron President and COO), sending the former CEO into a temper on the stand. He was also the ending voice for the prosecution as he concluded the government’s closing arguments to the jury by urging them to send a message to Lay and Skilling that “you can’t buy justice, you have to earn it.

In his closing arguments, Berkowitz used a large black and white cardboard display with the word "truth" emblazoned on one side and "lies" on other side. "You get to decide whether they told truth or lies, black and white," he told the jury. "Don't let the defendants, with their high-paid experts and their lawyers, buy their way out of this," he said. "I'm asking you to send them a message that it's not all right. You can't buy justice; you have to earn it."

After his team achieved overwhelming guilty verdicts against both Skilling and Lay on May 25, 2006, Berkowitz scolded the Enron executives, saying that "you can't lie to shareholders, you can't put yourselves in front of your employees' interests. No matter how rich and powerful you are, you have to play by the rules." Berkowitz noted the FBI spent five years investigating the Enron case and that his team spent many long nights working on the trial, warning other executives who think about committing fraud that "no matter now complicated or sophisticated a case may be, people like that stand ready to investigate."

...........................................................................................................

http://www.lw.com/resource/Publications/PressRelease/pressRelease.asp?pid=1682


DIRECTOR OF THE US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE'S ENRON TASK FORCE JOINS LATHAM & WATKINS
Addition of Sean Berkowitz, lead prosecutor of Enron executives, further strengthens Latham litigation team

Chicago, November 2, 2006 …Latham & Watkins LLP1 is pleased to announce that Sean M. Berkowitz has joined the firm's Chicago office as a partner in the Litigation Department, effective November 1, 2006.

Immediately prior to joining Latham, Berkowitz served as the Director of the US Department of Justice's Enron Task Force. He assumed the position in July 2005, and has been responsible for leading a team of prosecutors, F.B.I. agents and Internal Revenue Service personnel in prosecuting criminal violations in connection with the collapse of Enron Corporation in 2001. Berkowitz served as lead prosecutor in the trial of Enron's founder, Kenneth L. Lay, and former chief executive, Jeffrey K. Skilling.

Berkowitz joined the Enron Task Force in December 2003 after working in the criminal division of the Chicago US Attorney's Office. In his five years there, he worked on a wide range of matters including securities fraud prosecutions and a high profile capital murder case involving the death of a federal witness.

"Sean brings a vast wealth of experience and knowledge to Latham and will be a tremendous resource for our clients," stated Stephen Bowen, Office Managing Partner of Latham & Watkins in Chicago. "His judgment, competitive drive and enthusiasm will make him an exceptional colleague and an excellent addition to Latham."

"Sean is a formidable talent," said Peter Wald, Global Chair of Latham's Litigation Department. "His litigation and trial experience, insight and expertise will strongly complement our existing roster of premier litigation attorneys. Sean's decision to join Latham & Watkins is an important statement about our position in this highly competitive global market, and about our well-earned reputation for creativity and excellence in the delivery of client services. We are proud to welcome him as our partner, and look forward to his many contributions."

Berkowitz stated, "Joining Latham & Watkins' highly respected litigation practice presents an excellent opportunity for me. I am very excited about becoming a part of the firm's outstanding litigation team, culture of hard work and dedicated service to clients. Latham offers the ideal platform to grow and develop my practice."

Berkowitz graduated summa cum laude from Tulane University in 1989 and received his law degree cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1992. Prior to joining the Department of Justice in 1998, Berkowitz was with the law firm of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP in Chicago.

In September 2006 Berkowitz and the Enron Task Force team received the Attorney General's Award for Exceptional Service. The Latham litigation team is the only US firm to be ranked in the prestigious American Lawyer "Litigation Department of the Year" survey in both 2004 and 2006. The widely-watched survey ranks the top five litigation departments in the US and the 2006 survey noted "with clever hires and global ambition, Latham built a global powerhouse."

About Latham & Watkins
Latham & Watkins is a global law firm with more than 1,800 attorneys in 22 offices, including Brussels, Chicago, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Milan, Moscow, Munich, New Jersey, New York, Northern Virginia, Orange County, Paris, San Diego, San Francisco, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. For more information on Latham & Watkins, please visit the Web site at http://www.lw.com.

Notes to Editor
1 Latham & Watkins operates as a limited liability partnership worldwide with an affiliate in the United Kingdom and Italy, where the practice is conducted through an affiliated multinational partnership.

Contacts
Stephen Bowen, Chicago Office Managing Partner, (312) 876-7652
Peter Wald, Global Chair, Litigation Department, (415) 395-8006



Related links:

http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/FOIA_Merrill.pdf

.....................................................................................................................

Tim Mahoney,vFinance,Venus Methodist Church,Florida,Sayed Mustafa and Islamic Usury

http://maritimes.indymedia.org/news/2006/12/15025.php

Charles Schwab:vFinance's Charles Patrick Garcia receives Henry B. Gonzalez award !?

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/12/24/18340307.php

Democrats William Jefferson,Tim Mahoney, iGate,vFinance,DOBI, Endovasc penny stock frauds

http://www.ntimc.org/newswire.php?story_id=5195


James Dale Davidson,Charles Schwab,Tim Mahoney,VFIN, LOM and penny stock share money laundering

http://www.phillyimc.org/en/2006/12/34919.shtml

Ireland Indymedia bans criticism of Lord Rees Mogg,James Dale Davidson

http://www.southafrica.indymedia.org/news/2006/11/11701.php

Post to Lord Rees-Mogg's Weblog re NASDAQ,London Stock Exchange

http://www.posting.beirut.indymedia.org/ar/2006/11/5982.shtml

Virginia:Marvin Bush,Securacom,9/11,U.S. Senator George Allen,Bawag Austria,offshores...

http://www.southafrica.indymedia.org/news/2006/10/11458.php

U.S. Republican George Allen More Corrupt Than Utah Senators Bob Bennett,Orrin Hatch ?

http://www.southafrica.indymedia.org/news/2006/10/11391.php

Asa Hutchinson,Charlie Crist,Jeb Bush,Republican stock fraud and drug trafficking,etc....

http://www.houston.indymedia.org/news/2006/10/52801.php

Why did Osama bin Laden choose Jeb Bush's Huffman Aviation terrorist flight school ?

http://www.austin.indymedia.org/newswire/display/34636/index.php

Senator Bennett :Is Patrick Byrne's NCANS a Fraud ?

http://www.utah.indymedia.org/news/2005/10/11883_comment.php

Utah Gov Jon Huntsman,Senator Bennett, Hatch call Republican Senator Shelby 'a gangster'

http://www.la.indymedia.org/news/2006/09/179748.php

Does NY Times censor 9/11 Venice,Florida connection ?

http://www.utah.indymedia.org/news/2006/05/14058.php

NY Rep.Peter King,CIA,Swift,NY Times,Republican stock fraud

http://www.utah.indymedia.org/news/2006/06/15693_comment.php

NY WTC 'protected' by Kuwaiti company and Marvin Bush on 9/11

http://www.dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/132705/index.php

Asa Hutchinson,Richard Rainwater,George W Bush,Tom DeLay & 5.6 Ton cocaine bust in Mexico

http://www.arkansas.indymedia.org/newswire/display/19870/index.php

SEC,Schwab,Chris Cox,Hillary Clinton & Barbara Boxer Aid CIA'S In-Q-Tel penny stock fraud

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/05/22/18246601.php


Senator Bennett :Is Patrick Byrne's NCANS a Fraud ?

http://www.utah.indymedia.org/news/2005/10/11883_comment.php

Cocaina,Ciudad Del Carmen,Campeche, Abril 10,CIA,Republicanos Y PAN

http://www.la.indymedia.org/news/2006/07/167389.php

Did Israel President Moshe Katsav aid Muslim Terrorism or only fraud ?

http://www.sbindymedia.org/newswire/display/3226/index.php

Israel: Gal Lusky's 'IFA' Caught Up in Moshe Katsav,Mohamed Hadid, Zwebner 'UCSY' scam ?

http://www.chapelhill.indymedia.org/news/2006/03/19255.php

Israeli President Moshe Katsav aids massive penny stock fraud

http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/4195/index.php

Did Israel President Moshe Katzav aid Muslim Terrorism or only fraud ?

http://www.ntimc.org/newswire.php

SEC,Schwab,Chris Cox,Hillary Clinton & Barbara Boxer Aid CIA'S In-Q-Tel penny stock fraud

http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/05/1824660.php

Chris Cox,SEC,Makram Majid Chams,Titan Corp,9/11,Abhu Ghraib,etc.

http://www.maineindymedia.org/newswire/display/3952/index.php

SEC Covers Up UAE Money Laundering with U.S. Stocks

http://www.ucimc.org/newswire/display/112399/index.php

John Reed Stark UAE,SEC,Georgetown University Stock fraud Academic fraud Cyber fraud

http://www.maritimes.indymedia.org/news/2006/03/12190.php

Does NSA Serve SRA International's 'Cookies' ?

http://www.india.indymedia.org/en/2005/12/211284.shtml

Porter Goss: CIA Cyber and stock fraud ops damaged by leaks ?

http://www.news.com.com/5208-1028-0.html;

D.C.Terrorbaggers:James Dale Davidson,Don Nickles, ex-CIA Chief Woolsey,Asa Hutchinson,Tom McMillen

http://www.okimc.org/newswire.php

Asa Hutchinson,ex Congressman Tom McMillen, Fortress America,offshore money laundering

http://www.cleveland.indymedia.org/news/2006/03/19034.php

To CIA,In-Q-Tel,Amit Yoran re SRA International, Mantas Inc stock fraud money laundering

http://www.maritimes.indymedia.org/news/2006/02/11841.php

Mantas Inc,Herndon, Va, Pro-Money Laundering Arm of International Bankers,Brokers...

http://www.ftaaimc.org/en/2005/12/7186.shtml

CIA and Gilman Louie are less than honest

http://www.news.com.com/5208-1082-0.html

Charles Schwab and Share-Money Laundering

http://www.sfbay.indymedia.org/news/2005/06/1747107.php

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/02/15/BU132842.DTL

Spotlight on Enron's law firm
David Lazarus

Friday, February 15, 2002

Alberto Gonzales enjoys a reputation for covering George W. Bush's back.

In 1996, for example, Gonzales, as Bush's general counsel, managed to get the then-Texas governor excused from jury duty, thus saving Bush from having to disclose a 1976 arrest for drunk driving.

Bush rewarded Gonzales' loyalty by subsequently appointing him Texas' secretary of state and then to a seat on the Texas Supreme Court. And today, Gonzales is still watching Bush's flank as White House counsel.

But before Gonzales became a permanent fixture of Team W, he was a partner at the powerful Houston law firm Vinson & Elkins, and that's something congressional investigators are apparently taking a closer look at.

Sources tell me that investigators are following up on tips that Vinson & Elkins may have briefed former partners in advance on the findings of a top- secret probe into Enron's shady business dealings.

Enron had quietly asked Vinson & Elkins to conduct the probe in mid-August after a company official, Sherron Watkins, warned former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay that the deals could constitute fraudulent behavior.

Watkins reiterated to Congress yesterday that she was "highly alarmed" by what she'd learned. She said Lay had promised to look into the matter.

An oral report on Vinson & Elkins' findings was made to Lay on Sept. 21, and a written report was submitted to Enron on Oct. 15. It concluded that while Enron's activities did not warrant further investigation, "there is a serious risk of adverse publicity and litigation."

Enron is Vinson & Elkins' biggest client. Joseph Dilg, Vinson & Elkins' managing partner, rose through the ranks specializing in work for the energy trader. Enron's own general counsel, James Derrick, is a former Vinson & Elkins partner.

Not surprisingly, many Vinson & Elkins partners, as well as those who have departed the firm, are Enron shareholders. For congressional investigators now poring over Enron's affairs, the tight relationship between the company and its lawyers is a source of concern.

The question they're asking is whether Vinson & Elkins tried to look after its own by passing word to former partners -- especially those in high places - - about potential trouble brewing at Enron's headquarters.

If so, was Gonzales among them? And if that was the case, did the White House have direct knowledge of Enron's financial difficulties weeks before the news wiped out billions of dollars in shareholder value?

If nothing else, the White House could have asked federal energy regulators to explore Enron's financial well-being well before the company was on its last legs.

White House spokeswoman Anne Womack said that "to the best of his recollection," Gonzales "can't recall having had any conversations with anyone at Vinson & Elkins about Enron since last summer."

Joe Householder, a spokesman for Vinson & Elkins, also said the firm has had no contact with Gonzales about Enron.

But Craig McDonald isn't so sure. The director of Texans for Public Justice,

a watchdog group that's tracked Gonzales' career for years, said he wouldn't be at all surprised if Vinson & Elkins had shared its findings with the White House counsel.

"It's definitely plausible," McDonald said. "Gonzales is part of the V&E network. These guys protect each other."

Gonzales, 46, worked for Vinson & Elkins from 1982 through 1992, when he was tapped by Bush to become the then-governor's general counsel.

The law firm and Enron were Gonzales' main financial backers when he ran in 2000 to hold his seat on the supreme court. Vinson & Elkins contributed $29, 450 and Enron ponied up another $6,500.

The White House's Womack said there was no significance to this generosity. "It says that Enron and Vinson & Elkins took an interest in supporting Judge Gonzales," she said. "It's not unusual for a law firm to support someone who used to work there."

But McDonald at Texans for Public Justice said Vinson & Elkins' interest may have gone beyond mere boosterism. "They give more political money than anyone else, and this helps them with access to government officials," he said.

"That's what they're all about."

In an interview last year with Hispanic magazine, Gonzales said he never really embraced Republican ideology until joining Vinson & Elkins.

He also said he was personally assured by Bush before becoming White House counsel that "we're going to have a clean administration."

Gonzales is now the point man in the administration's effort to keep hidden Vice President Dick Cheney's notes regarding moves by Enron's Lay and others to shape national energy policy.

Congress' General Accounting Office is suing for access to the potentially sensational documents.

Gonzales also helped draft Bush's plan for secret military tribunals to try foreigners suspected of terrorism -- an idea that ran into a firestorm of criticism from civil libertarians.

Meanwhile, Bush, who prizes loyalty above all other things, may have even more plans for his favorite attorney. The buzz in Washington is that Gonzales is the president's top choice should a vacancy open on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Something tells me that this wouldn't be an unwelcome development in the boardroom of a certain Houston law firm.



..............................................................................................................

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2002/052902b.html

The Document War

On May 22, another front in the battle over Enron documents opened when the Democratic-controlled Senate Governmental Affairs Committee approved subpoenas to the White House in a 9-8 party-line vote. "We are asking for conversations that the president and vice president and others at the White House might have had with Enron," said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., the committee’s chairman.

The committee’s ranking Republican, Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, said the subpoenas were unfair because "there has not been any indication that the executive office of the president had any involvement in the collapse of Enron in any way."

White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales also stressed that theme in releasing a chronology of the White House contacts with Enron in an initial response to the committee’s action. He said Enron did not approach anyone in the White House "seeking help in connection with its financial difficulties prior to bankruptcy," an assertion that seems inaccurate given Lay’s calls to Treasury and Commerce.

While the White House is expected to battle to keep secret its Enron documents, the pieces of the mosaic continue to fall into place, revealing a picture of an administration eager to do what it could for Bush’s number one patron.

With tens of thousands of American investors hurt by Enron’s accounting shenanigans and millions of Californians gouged by energy-market manipulations, Bush may have reason to worry about what the release of more documents might show. If the White House doesn't succeed in keeping its records secret, more damaging details could emerge.

With Democrats reluctant to directly challenge a popular wartime president, these details could yet prove damaging to Bush and his party in an election year. In any case, the record is now clear that the Bush administration did what it could for Enron right up to the company’s collapse.

.............................................................................................................

http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0706-02.htm

from All the President's Enrons by Frank Rich



Despite this record, there has been only balking, not housecleaning, at the White House. Thomas White, who was vice chairman of Enron Energy Services when it allegedly hid $500 million in losses and manipulated the California energy crisis, is still secretary of the Army, despite having been cited by the Senate Armed Services Committee for violating his signed ethics agreement. (Even worse, Mr. White has threatened to bring to the Army his "understanding of best business practices.") The record of Enron contacts by him and countless other administration officials remains incomplete and in constant revision. What information does dribble out often emanates from the White House counsel, Alberto Gonzales, who himself had an attorney-client relationship with Enron while a partner at Vinson & Elkins in Houston.

Perhaps it's Mr. Gonzales who, as the administration's chief ethics maven, advised the White House this week on how to handle the 1991 S.E.C. report showing that Mr. Bush had filed disclosures of his stock trades in Harken Energy, where he was a director, as much as eight months late. The ethical call? Blame Harken's lawyers. A presidential spokesman assured us as well that this infraction amounted to nothing more than driving 60 in a 55-mile-per-hour zone. That will surely bring good cheer to those Harken shareholders who were left holding the stock that Mr. Bush sold, with no insider's knowledge, of course, just before it tanked.

WorldCom is a political boon to the president because it allows him to moralize about epic-scale crime without mentioning Enron, Halliburton or Harken. But the Enron bomb hasn't been defused. Its next detonation may come the day someone outside the administration unearths the as-yet mostly secret names of those buddies of Enron executives who were let into the hundreds of side partnerships that overnight yielded multimillion-dollar plunder on nominal stakes (with ordinary stockholders left paying the bill). "Not in memory has a single major company grown so big in tandem with a presidential dynasty and a corrupted political system," wrote the Republican political analyst Kevin Phillips in The Los Angeles Times five months ago, tracing Bush family favor-swapping with Enron back to 1988 and likening Enron's potential damage to that of the Harding administration's Teapot Dome scandals. "The question now is whether what went up together will come down together."

It's a question only Mr. Bush can answer. He can give the oil cronies within his administration an ethical pass, much as Harding did. He can keep trying to finesse the Wall Street crisis with rhetorical panaceas as empty as his father's "Message: I care" response to his own economic storm. Or he can fulfill a campaign promise and become a reformer with results, a Teddy Roosevelt who cleans up capitalism to make it stronger.

No flowery speeches are required to describe the reforms needed now, from fully independent policing of accounting firms to the complete prohibition of conflicts of interest that encourage both accountants and stockbrokers to cut corners. "No off-balance-sheet or offshore entities, no shell corporations, no sham transactions," adds Robert Morgenthau, the Manhattan district attorney, who is pursuing Enron more aggressively than the administration is. Arthur Levitt, the former S.E.C. chairman, urges legislation that increases the legal liability for investment bankers, lawyers and accountants who aid, abet and also profit from corporate Ponzi schemes.

The president could get real reform "in a heartbeat," says Eliot Spitzer, the New York attorney general, who went after Merrill Lynch while the Pitt S.E.C. slept. "All he has to do is call Oxley" — Michael Oxley, who is steering a weak Republican "reform" bill through the House — "and say this is the bill we're passing instead." But that's about as likely as Martha Stewart discovering a cure for cancer instead of trying to cash in on one. Mr. Bush has already opposed the notion of requiring corporations to count executive stock options as expenses — a simple fix endorsed by Alan Greenspan and Warren Buffett as an antidote to fictional profits. The Treasury Department, Newsweek reports, is hard at work stifling a bill that would end the offshore shenanigans that allowed Enron (with 800-plus such entities) to evade taxes in four out of five years.

"In five years the Corleone family will be completely legitimate."

Michael Corleone, The Godfather

"In five years the Corleone family will be completely legitimate." - Michael Corleone, The Godfather.

Welcome to the Oligarchy.

"In five years the Corleone family will be completely legitimate." - Michael Corleone, The Godfather.

Welcome to the Oligarchy.