$13 million is a small price to pay for a hist the size of Enron...

[whistle]

...It may also provide a future model for companies which have an eye on the deep pockets of privatized Social Security. As the 140,000,000 working suckers who will be seduced into this presidents privitization plan for Social Security, "caveat emptor", let the buyer beware.

<snip>

January 17, 2005
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR - NYT
What's $13 Million Among Friends?
By LUCIAN BEBCHUK

Cambridge, Mass. — TEN former directors of Enron have agreed to pay $13 million from their own pockets to settle a class action suit stemming from Enron's collapse in 2001, which wiped out some $60 billion in shareholder value. Because directors almost never have to pay even a penny in such suits, the Enron settlement - announced just days after several former WorldCom directors agreed to a similar deal - was widely viewed as a significant development that could discourage potential directors from serving on corporate boards.

This view is mistaken. A close look at the settlement shows that Enron's directors have still not been held accountable in any meaningful way.

Of the 18 former directors who were defendants in the Enron case, only 10 have to pay under the settlement. More important, according to the complaint against them, these 10 sold Enron shares worth more than $250 million during the period in which Enron was misreporting its financial affairs. According to the lawyer for the lead plaintiffs, the settlement requires each of these 10 to pay an amount equal to 10 percent of his or her pretax profits. They will be able to keep the other 90 percent - which amounts to $117 million - while investors who held their Enron stock lost their shirts.


<more> http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/17/opinion/17bebchuk.html?oref=login&th

[Demeter]

1. When Even Justice Is A Crime, the Nation Is Dead

It just hasn't stopped moving yet.