Westar Executives Wittig and Lake Convicted of Fraud (DeLay connection)

[UpInArms]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aBBOiADNYvsU&refer=us

Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- A Kansas jury convicted former Wall Street executives David Wittig and Douglas Lake of looting Westar Energy Inc. of $37 million when the two men ran the company, the state's largest utility owner.

Prosecutors said Lake and Wittig enriched themselves through improper use of corporate planes and corporate counsel and the misrepresentation and manipulation of merger plans and compensation packages.

Wittig, 50, a former investment banker at Salomon Smith Barney, and Lake, 55, who was a managing director at Bear Stearns & Co., join a growing list of top executives found guilty in recent months of stealing from their companies or cheating investors. Ex-WorldCom Inc. CEO Bernard Ebbers was convicted in March of leading an $11 billion fraud. Jurors convicted ex-Tyco International Ltd. Chairman L. Dennis Kozlowski in June of taking millions of dollars in unauthorized compensation.

``I think this verdict is consistent with the heightened scrutiny of corporations'' since the 2001 collapse of Enron Corp., said John R. Osgood, a former federal prosecutor, now a defense lawyer in Kansas City, Missouri. ``These fellows, I think, engaged in bad timing. They were indicted at an inopportune time from their standpoint.''

A jury of 10 women and two men in Kansas City, Kansas, convicted Wittig, the former president and chief executive officer of Westar, of all 39 charges against him, including conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and circumvention of internal controls.

...more...

Here's the DeLay connection:

http://www.citizensforethics.org/activities/campaign.php?view=39

CREW Demands DeLay Bribery Investigation

WASHINGTON, DC -- Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) today sent a letter to all members of the House of Representatives requesting the House Ethics Committee open a formal investigation into serious allegations of criminal activity by Reps. Tom DeLay (R-TX), Billy Tauzin (R-LA) and Joe Barton (R-TX). The complaint stems from allegations that Delay, Tauzin and Barton may have extorted payments from Westar executives in return for favorable consideration of legislation to benefit the company.

The complaint alleges that DeLay, Tauzin and Barton violated federal bribery laws as well as a House Rule barring Members from receiving compensation or permitting others to be compensated in return for improperly influencing legislation.

<snip>

On May 17, 2002, Douglas Lawrence, Westar's Vice-President for Public Affairs, sent a memo to Westar executives outlining a plan for Westar and its executives to contribute approximately $31,500 in hard money and $25,000 in soft money to Members of Congress and their political action committees. The memo included a chart showing how much each executive needed to contribute and to which campaigns those contributions should be directed.

On May 20, 2002, another Westar executive, Douglas Lake, sent an e-mail to Doug Lawrence asking "who is Shimkus, who is Young. Delay is from TX what is our connection? . . . I am confused."

Lawrence e-mailed a reply to Lake, explaining that the donations were needed for Westar to "get a seat at the table," in effect clearing the way for the passage of an amendment to the energy bill that would have saved Westar billions of dollars.

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[Scout1071]

1. YESSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wittig is such an asshole.

I had a very unpleasant experience with him once upon a time.

[MuseRider]

2. I know his wife

we sat on several committees togther and I really liked her. Too bad, I can't imagine she did not know what was going on. I never met him but knew his sons from school.

I am so happy to see this, I was afraid they would get away with it.