NEW YORK, Feb. 25, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Parker & Waichman, LLP announces that it has been retained by additional plaintiffs and that they have filed a new round of claims against Merrill Lynch on behalf of current and former Enron Corporation (Pink Sheets:ENRNQ) shareholders. These plaintiffs purchased shares of Enron as a result of misleading research and advice from Merrill Lynch analysts and brokers. To date, Parker & Waichman and associated counsel have been retained by hundreds of individuals financially injured by the inappropriate advice of Merrill Lynch. Current and former Enron shareholders are encouraged to visit www.enronstockfraud.com for more information and to request a free lawsuit case evaluation.
The claims charge that Merrill Lynch inappropriately advised clients to purchase shares of Enron by not disclosing a conflict of interest between its research and investment banking divisions. In 1998, Merrill Lynch, concerned about being excluded from a large Enron stock offering, replaced John Olson, Merrill Lynch's top energy analyst who was not positive with respect to Enron's stock, with Donato Eassey, who was bullish on Enron. Merrill Lynch was specifically rewarded for the analyst switch with tens of millions of dollars in Enron investment banking business.
Last year, David W. Delainey the former chief executive of Enron North America and Enron Energy Services pleaded guilty to insider trading and admitted to engaging in fraudulent transactions to boost Enron's financial results. One such fraudulent transaction that Mr. Delainey was allegedly involved with was the bogus sale of three energy barges to Merrill Lynch. Last year, prosecutors charged former Enron accountant Sheila Kahanek and a former Merrill Lynch vice president William Fuhs for their involvement in this scheme which helped pad Enron's earnings by making a loan to look like a profitable sale.
In what prosecutors have termed an "asset parking" scheme, Merrill Lynch agreed on the last days of the fourth quarter of 1999 to pay Enron $28 million for three Nigerian energy barges. The deal let Enron record $12 million in earnings and $28 million in cash flow, and meet quarterly targets it would have otherwise missed. However, Enron allegedly promised to buy the barges back from Merrill Lynch at a guaranteed 22 percent return. This promise to purchase the barges back, made the Nigerian deal a loan, and made recording it as a sale on Enron's books illegal.
Last year, the SEC filed a civil lawsuit alleging that the Nigerian barge deal was a "sham transaction" that helped Enron "manufacture earnings". The SEC alleged that the four former Merrill executives "aided and abetted Enron Corp.'s earnings manipulation" by working with Enron executives to set up fraudulent transactions. Additionally, the lawsuit alleged that Merrill Lynch helped set-up and fund LJM, LP and LJM2, LP, two companies controlled by former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow, which Enron used to generate artificial profits and conceal its true debt by moving billions of dollars of debt off its balance sheet and onto the balance sheets of LJM2s. Although Merrill Lynch allegedly knew that Enron was deceiving investors by hiding debt, Merrill Lynch never disclosed this information to the public, and material maintained a false and misleading "Buy" recommendation on Enron's stock at all times.
Parker & Waichman and associated counsel currently represent thousands of victims of stock fraud and they continue to aggressively file claims against fraudulent public companies and investment banks. Parker & Waichman has established a website specifically devoted to current and former shareholders and employees that have been adversely affected by the inappropriate conduct of Enron and Merrill Lynch. It is located at http://www.enronstockfraud.com/. For more information on Parker & Waichman please visit our site at www.yourlawyer.com or call 1(800)-LAW-INFO.
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca