(5 Dec 2001)
December 5, 2001
1. Wide shot press conference room at Millennium Hotel in Manhattan
2. Various details of papers filed in lawsuit
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ronald Luraschi, Senior Vice President, Amalgamated Bank:
"We are deeply disturbed and angry to learn that company executives and directors who were charged with safeguarding the company's value have apparently engaged in activities to benefit themselves individually at the expense of customers, investors and employees."
4. Cutaway media
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ronald Luraschi, Senior Vice President, Amalgamated Bank:
"While lining their pockets and setting themselves up financially for life, Enron insiders misled and defrauded the bank and other investors who were not privy to the same insider information as they were."
Recent File
6. Zoom out from Enron flag at headquarters in Houston, Texas
December 5, 2001
7. SOUNDBITE: (English): Bill Lerach, Partner, Milberg Weiss Law Firm:
"The bank believes it is unconscionable and therefore intolerable for these corporate insiders to inflict 25 (b) billion dollars of damage on investors, to ruin thousands of lives and countless retirements and smirk and laugh to the bank with one-point-one (b) billion dollars in their pocket."
Recent File
8. Exterior Enron headquarters Houston
9. Close up Enron sign outside headquarters
10. Medium shot employees loading items into cars outside headquarters
11. Pan up exterior Enron headquarters
STORYLINE:
Another lawsuit against Enron - announced on Wednesday in New York - alleges widespread fraud and insider trading at the top levels of the embattled corporation.
Enron was once the world's biggest buyer and seller of energy.
But it imploded in recent weeks after acknowledging it engaged in questionable accounting practices and overstated its profits by more than half a billion dollars over the past four years.
Wednesday's new litigation seeks a temporary restraining order to freeze what they describe as the insider-sales proceeds of 29 Enron officers and directors.
These officials are charged with reaping huge profits during the past three years through a scheme that artificially inflated the price of the company stock.
The Enron executives and board members are accused of engaging in stock sales at the same time they were falsifying the company's financial condition.
The legal papers, filed in the U-S District Court in Houston, allege that Enron insiders accrued approximately one-point-one (b) billion dollars in proceeds from the sale of more than 17.3 (m) million shares of Enron stock for prices as high as 82 dollars a share.
Amalgamated Bank, a manager of retirement savings plans and the lead plaintiff of the class action lawsuit, claims losses of 10.3 (m) million dollars due to the collapse of Enron stocks and bonds.
The complaint alleges a total loss for investors of an estimated 20 (b) billion dollars.
The complaint targets not Enron as a corporate entity but rather the individual executives allegedly behind the wrongdoing.
The defendants include Enron board chairman Kenneth Lay, who reportedly cashed in more than 101 (m) million dollars worth of stock, and Lou Pai, Chief Executive Officer of an Enron subsidiary who reportedly sold more than 353 (m) million dollars worth of Enron stock.
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