The SEC and the Enron Criminal Task Force are preparing to bring civil and criminal charges — along with a plea bargain and a settlement — against Paula Rieker, the former corporate secretary and investor-relations executive of Enron Corp.
Government investigators consider Ms. Rieker to be a potentially strong witness against former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling and former Enron chief accountant, Richard Causey. Given her senior positions at Enron, she also could be helpful in the government’s continuing criminal probe of former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay. Government investigators are focusing on Mr. Lay’s actions during the last six months of 2001 when questions began surfacing publicly about Enron’s financial condition and practices.
Over two dozen individuals have been criminally charged in the Enron Task Force’s investigation, but none of those individuals have taken a case to trial. Several have pleaded guilty to various charges and are cooperating with the continuing investigations. Among those cooperating is former Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow, whose cooperation facilitated the indictments earlier this year of Messrs. Skilling and Causey.
The first Enron-related criminal trial — the one known as the “Nigerian Barge case” involving several mid-level former Enron executives and former Merrill Lynch executives — is currently scheduled to begin in early June in Houston before U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein.