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CounterPunch
January
3, 2003
How Enron Helped Army Secretary
Thomas White Build an $8 Million Fortress
by JASON LEOPOLD
Army Secretary Thomas White just put the finishing
touches on a $4.6 million mansion in Naples, Florida, using funds
some lawmakers have said White, the former vice chairman of Enron,
obtained by selling his stock in the company using inside information.
But Democrats in both houses said this week they have given up
on their investigation of whether White knew about or was involved
in Enron's manipulation of California's electricity market or
if he sold his stock in the company using information that was
not available to the public.
"We just don't have the power to
put Secretary White under anymore scrutiny," said a high-ranking
aide to Congressman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat who has
been White's most vocal critic. "It seems that Enron has
become old news. We haven't turned up any evidence that we can
use against Secretary White from our investigations. It's over."
The aide said Waxman sent a letter to
White Aug. 6 questioning the Army Secretary about his sale of
Enron stock but White never responded. Waxman never pursued White
for a response. Senator Barbara Boxer, D-California, who called
for White's resignation after he testified before a Senate committee
investigating White's role at Enron, has turned her attention
to other "pressing issues," an aide to Boxer said,
refusing to elaborate.
White is the highest ranking Bush administration
appointee who worked at Enron. He held 405,710 shares of Enron
stock, more than any other member of the Bush administration
did.
During the past three months, federal
investigators probing the collapse of Enron Corporation have
frozen the personal bank accounts of some of Enron's former executives,
alleging the money--including bonuses and stock options--belongs
to the company's shareholders because it was obtained through
a series of fraudulent transactions. Federal investigators are
paying close attention to any former Enron executive spending
large sums of cash. Even Kenneth Lay, Enron's former chairman,
and Jeffrey Skilling, Enron's former president; are laying low
and are being cautious not to draw too much attention to themselves
by going on any sort of spending spree, according to people close
to Skilling and Lay.
But White, who sold his stock in Enron
for more than $20 million is virtually immune to any of the criticism
dogging other former executives of the one-time high-flying energy
company.
White built the $4 million mansion on
a $4.6 million piece of property in Old Naples, according to
a report in Sunday's Naples Daily News.
White spent 10 years at Enron. He earned
his entire fortune from his tenure at the company and funded.
White received a certificate of occupancy
from the city of Naples on Dec. 12. A certificate of occupancy
is needed from a city building official before the owner is allowed
to move into the mansion, the paper reported.
The two-story, 15,145-square-foot home
at 2 Gulf Shore Blvd. S. attracted local attention earlier this
year because White wanted to build a 6-foot, 9-inch wall, a 6-foot,
11-inch gate and gateposts that would be 10 feet, 1 inch tall,
the Naples Daily News reported.
The city's code allows walls to be 3
feet tall and gates and gateposts 6 feet tall. Some Naples City
Council members refused to give White permission to violate the
code because they felt the property would look like a fortress,
according to the Naples Daily News report
Architectural Land Design changed the
numbers to a 3-foot, 11-inch wall with 18 inches of wrought iron
on top, a 7-foot gate and gateposts that would be 7 feet, 6 inches
tall, the Naples Daily News said.
White sold some of the Enron stock in
October 2001 after he spoke by telephone to Enron executives
when the company started showing signs of unraveling. Some lawmakers
have alleged that White received a tip about the company's accounting
scandals and quickly sold his stock to avoid huge multimillion-dollar
losses. But the allegations are still unproven.
White's telephone calls to former Enron
executives, however, should be enough for federal investigators
to probe White for possible insider trading violations. The government
is reportedly trying to build an insider trading case against
Lay, who also sold his stock in Enron following conversations
Lay had with other company executives prior to Enron's collapse,
according to the New York Times.
White, meanwhile, is preparing to lead
tens of thousands of our nation's soldiers into a war with Iraq.
That too should be investigated.
Jason Leopold
can be reached at: jasonleopold@hotmail.com
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