JASON LEOPOLD: Thomas White Wants Gov’t Funds For New Energy Project

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Beware: This could be your tax dollars at work

By Jason Leopold -- World News Trust

The federal government may guarantee hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to help a former energy executive who publicly admitted he had no idea that the division he once ran cooked its books and who is now trying to secure funding for a new energy company he started with three ex-colleagues.

Yes, Thomas White, former vice chairman of Enron Energy Services and one-time Secretary of the Army, is back in the energy business and this time he's looking for a handout.

White testified before the U.S. Senate more than two years ago that he was clueless about tactics his employees used to manipulate electricity prices in the California power market.

He also testified that he was unaware that his employees were hiding massive EES losses under his leadership in an effort to keep ESS parent company, Enron Corp, temporarily afloat.

(Full disclosure: I spent a year investigating White and wrote a lengthy news story in August 2002 that tied Thomas White to the fraud at Enron, specifically that he was aware the division he ran was hiding losses and that he instructed an underling to cover up losses from a particular energy contract. The story, published by Salon.com, was removed two months after it was posted because a single email I obtained proving the allegations was called into question by right-wing journalists and the White House. I was discredited and falsely accused of plagiarism by Salon. To this day, not one reporter has ever followed up on the story or has proved that the email wasn’t authentic, despite the fact that two years after the story was first published the allegations, detailed in a federal indictment against former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling, proved to be true.)

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http://worldnewstrust.org/modules/AMS/article.php?storyid=783

[salin]

1. I remember an interesting senate committee hearing

held by, I believe, Sen Dorgan, where White said some very memorable things - I wish I could remember when (I think the days before the story about the local Minn fbi trying to get more info./awareness about a certain suspicious request for flight schools... per Moussaui (sp) broke) - so someone could find the transcripts.

In the hearing White was defending the practice of counting all future "booked" energy contracts as current revenue (pumping up the books) - as "it was nothing unusual, it was standard practice for the industry" - he said this repeatedly - even after, iirc, it was pointed out that it was ENRON which started this questionable practice and set it as the "industry standard".

There were other interesting items - like the calls between Enron officials in the days leading up to the downfall of Enron - and White who now worked as head of the Army - and, iirc, the timing of white divesting his interests in Enron....

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2. I Forwarded This Thread To Jason

at [e-mail]

He'll be interested in your comment. Chrs

[salin]

3. thanks

i have a rather "relational" memory - that is things that seem important get filed away and linked to other items occuring in a similar time frame. A friend of mine laughs about the "talent" as she will recall an event from more than 20 years ago - and I can date it (year, sometimes season) by tying the event to songs that were heard at the time... then link that to other memories that help me zero in - and I am generally pretty darn close or accurate.

I hope he can dig in and find the congressional hearing and testimony. Other senators who were involved (unless I am merging two hearings in my mind) were Rob Wyden (Or) and Barbara Boxer.

[susu369]

4. Thanks for keeping DUer's current with Jason Leopold's work

:kick:

Good web site, too. :thumbsup: