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 HOUSTON (AP) - Enron Corp.'s most profitable division raked in "alarming" earnings that undercut top executives' portrayal of the company as a steady growth machine rather than an energy trader vulnerable to market volatility, a former company vice president testified Wednesday.
In her second day on the witness stand in the fraud and conspiracy trial of Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling, Paula Rieker told jurors the wholesale division's $3.8 billion in profit in the first three quarters of 2001 after $1.4 billion for the entire prior year would have alarmed investors. It wasn't discussed when or how investors may have learned of such a spike.
Lay and Skilling repeatedly portrayed that business as a steady source of predictable growth, which helped maintain Wall Street's enthusiasm for Enron's stock.
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