Posted on 01/25/2002 1:30:54 PM PST by dead
HOUSTON (Reuters) - The toll of the Enron bankruptcy expanded dramatically on Friday with the apparent suicide of a former executive who had opposed the accounting practices that led to the collapse of the energy trading giant.
J. Clifford Baxter, 43, who resigned as vice chairman of Enron Corp. last April, killed himself with a gunshot to the head, police in Sugar Land, Texas, an affluent Houston suburb, said.
Baxter, who resigned from Enron last May, had reportedly feuded with then Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling over the propriety of off-balance-sheet transactions involving hundreds of partnerships that ultimately triggered the once-mighty Houston company's spiral into the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.
Sugar Land police officers and a Fort Bend County constable gather outside the Sugar Land, Texas home of former Enron vice chairman J. Clifford Baxter Friday, Jan. 25, 2002. Baxter was discovered shot to death in a car parked on a median not far from his home, an apparent suicide, authorities said. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
Sugar Land Police Department spokeswoman Patricia Whitty said Baxter was found inside his Mercedes early on Friday with a gunshot wound to the head, a suicide note, and a revolver at his side.
He had Enron identification in his wallet, Whitty said. Police declined to divulge the contents of the note.
Enron confirmed the death in a short statement: ``We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our friend and colleague, Cliff Baxter.''
JACKSON TELLS FORMER EMPLOYEES TO ``HOLD ON''
In Houston, civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson (news - web sites) met
with former Enron employees in a church in the shadows of Enron's headquarters.
``We've got to hold on,'' Jackson said. ``In the darkest hours the stars shine most clearly.''
Tim Sundel, who is among the thousands of Enron employees who were laid off in December, said he felt deep sadness on hearing the news of Baxter's death.
``I think the timing has something to do with all of the momentum that is growing around the collapse of a very wonderful company,'' he said.
Baxter's suicide came one day after the start of congressional hearings on Enron's collapse and the role of its auditor, Big Five accounting firm Andersen, as legislators seek answers on why Andersen employees had destroyed thousands of documents related to Enron audits.
But furious lawmakers got few answers on Thursday as fired Andersen partner David Duncan refused to testify, invoking his Constitutional right under the Fifth Amendment to avoid self-incrimination.
Hearings by the House Energy and Commerce Committee and another by the Senate on Thursday were the first of nine scheduled over the next six weeks into Enron, which freely gave to politicians of both parties but was particularly generous to the election of campaign of President Bush (news - web sites).
Congressional investigators had sought to interview Baxter last week while they were in Houston talking to others about Enron, congressional committee sources told Reuters on Friday.
``We did not seek testimony from him (Baxter) yet. His name was brought up numerous times during investigators' meetings,'' a congressional source said.
ENRON SPREAD ITS MONEY AROUND
Almost all of the U.S. legislators serving on congressional committees investigating Enron have received campaign contributions from Enron or Andersen, the New York Times reported on Friday.
Of the 248 senators and members of the House of Representatives on 11 congressional committees investigating the firm, 212 received donations from the two firms, according to an analysis by the Times and the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit research group that tracks money in politics.
According to the analysis, 43 of the 57 members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee have received money from Enron and 52 of its 57 members have received donations from Andersen.
Legislators on Friday asked Enron's former Chairman and CEO, Kenneth Lay, to provide information on loans he received from the once high-flying energy firm and on his sales of company stock.
The Wall Street Journal on Friday reported that reorganization specialist Stephen Cooper is a front-runner to be named acting CEO of Enron. Cooper, a managing principal of consulting firm Zolfo Cooper, was scheduled to meet with Enron senior management during the next few days.
The Times has also reported that Lay, who resigned as chairman and CEO earlier this week but remains a member of Enron's board of directors, had repeatedly used millions of dollars in Enron stock to repay loans made to him by the company. The newspaper's report was based on an interview with Lay's lawyer, Earl Silbert.
Silbert was not immediately available for comment on Friday.
BAXTER SUBJECT OF LAWSUITS
Former vice chairman Baxter was the subject of lawsuits that targeted 29 of Enron's top directors and insiders, accusing them of cashing in on inside information at the expense of stockholders.
Court records and securities filings show that Baxter earned some $35.2 million by exercising Enron stock options, including $9 million in 2001 alone.
However, despite the financial rewards Baxter may have reaped, a former Enron official said relations between Baxter and other Enron executives were strained, at best.
``Cliff Baxter complained mightily to Skilling and all who would listen about the inappropriateness of our transactions with LJM,'' Enron whistle-blower Sherron Watkins wrote to Lay in an Aug. 14 letter.
His complaints targeted the so-called ``LJM'' and ``LJM2'' investment partnerships managed by then-Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow, who earned $30 million for that work in addition to his Enron salary.
Enron filed for the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history on Dec. 2, wiping out 5,000 jobs and leaving investors -- including many employees who held company stock in their retirement accounts -- holding nearly worthless stocks.
From a high of about $90 in Aug. 2000, Enron stock crashed to 67 cents on Jan. 10 before trading was halted its shares delisted from the New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites). Enron shares now trade over-the-counter at about 45 cents.
Baxter, who was the lead negotiator on Enron's purchase of Portland General Electric in 1997, joined Enron in 1991 and was chairman and CEO of Enron North America before being named chief strategy officer. In Oct. 2000, he was promoted to vice chairman.
Enron's statement on Baxter's suicide, which was posted on the company's Web site (http://www.enron.com), was a terse, three-sentence statement.
But in a statement announcing Baxter's resignation last May, Enron had lauded Baxter's ``... creativity, intelligence, sense of humor and straightforward manner.''
The May press release had also described Enron as ``one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas and communications companies,'' noting that Fortune magazine for six straight years had named it ``America's Most Innovative Company.''
If the article is correct that he left last April because of the shenanigans, then there doesn't seem to be much reason for him to off himself now. However, he probably would know enough to get people in trouble.
How odd that he would be the one to 'kill himself' .... he was not facing prosecution. In fact, it is highly likely that he would have been a witness for the prosecution.
I am not convinced this is a 'suicide.'
Just because he resigned his position doesn't mean that he wasn't guilty of something.
Indeed. Apparently he showed signs of conscience early on and later quit, was asked to leave or some kind of mutual agreement was established after the tiff in the executive offices. Whatever.....who shoots themselves on a median strip near home? We know of a certain person who has many, many suicides of associates stinking up his closet, and we know someone who dealt with Enron closely. And we know of someone who's MO fits this scenario exactly.
If there is any chance that this was murder, I hope that the culprit is found big time. There is really something wrong with this....really wrong.
That's either sloppy police work or very poor choice of words. Or maybe he was misquoted.
I'm not saying the guy killed himself, but they shouldn't put out statements like that before they put all the pieces together. Especially in a case where there would be motive to off him.
He left a note; sounds like he depressed and could not handle the scandal and it's consequences.
Sad; does not mention anything re his family; but no doubt, leaves one behind.
This one really stinks. I am convinced this was NOT SUICIDE.
It's a shame.
My gut tells me that it involves the 800+ offshore money holes such as "LJM" and "RAPTOR". When these huge sums of money get hidden, laundered and disappeared, there has got to be underworld involvement who do not want to be named in court. International underworld.
Of course, the left sees everything as pointing to Bush. They even are saying that Bush had him taken out. They are as bitter and delusional as ever. If anything, the big money mafia/drug/union bosses (sometimes called Democrats) would want this guy taken out.
If I wanted to off somebody whose murder could trigger inconvenient investigations, I would tell the victim: "You have a choice. You either write a nice suicide note and get a relatively painless bullet to the head, or I can just run you feet-first thru a wood-chipper. Your choice"
Which would you choose?
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