Enron Defendants Get Help From Unlikely Source

The New York Times > Business: "The transaction was ostensibly a $28 million Enron sale of an interest in some Nigerian power barges to an entity jointly owned with Merrill Lynch. But prosecutors contend that the deal, which allowed Enron to report $12 million in profits, was a sham. That was because, the indictment says, Mr. Fastow promised Merrill executives that Enron would repurchase their investment, at a profit for Merrill, within six months of its being made. Such a guarantee would mean, in essence, that the risk of ownership never passed from Enron to Merrill, and that no real sale occurred. "