Kenneth Lay, the former chief executive of collapsed energy giant Enron, is being investigated by federal agents over sales of $70m worth of stocks just before the company imploded.
Accountancy Age, 30 Aug 2002
According to SEC filings, investigators are focusing on the shares sold privately, in particular $26m sold after Enron accountant Sherron Watkins warned the company would collapse in a 'wave of accounting scandals'.
The investigators have questioned lawyers and accountants who did work for Lay, in an attempt to build an insider trading case against him, according to reports in the media.
But it is not yet known whether there will be enough evidence to build a case against him.
Lay resigned as chief executive of Enron in August 2001, just months before the company collapsed.
News of the investigation into Lay comes a week after Enron's head of global finance Michael Kopper pleaded guilty to enriching himself by setting up off-balance sheet partnerships.
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