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on September 15, 2000, BT/Deutsche Bank not only reiterated its “Buy” rating, but raised thestock’s target price to $100.e. CIBC knowingly assisted the Insiders in misstating Enron’s financialcondition.506. CIBC played an active and important role in the Insiders scheme to manipulate andmisstate Enron’s financial condition. Between 1998 and bankruptcy, CIBC and the Insiderscompleted a substantial number of transactions the Insiders improperly reported pursuant toFAS 140. In each instance, CIBC created and/or participated in the transaction knowing the Insidersintended to account improperly for it in Enron’s financial statements. CIBC’s role in thosetransactions was to provide the 3% equity investment needed to qualify the transaction underFAS 140. However, CIBC’s equity was never really at risk. CIBC would not, and did not,participate without first receiving the Insiders’ agreement that CIBC’s equity investment would berepaid. That agreement led CIBC to characterize its investments internally as “trust me” equity.CIBC 1139804 (quoted in Exam. III, App. H at 6).507. CIBC knew that because its equity was not at risk, the transactions in which itparticipated did not qualify for FAS 140 treatment. But CIBC also knew the Insiders would reportthe transactions as if they did. Without CIBC’s equity piece, these FAS 140 transactions would nothave occurred. Consequently, CIBC aided the Insiders’ scheme to improperly generate cash flowfrom operations and disguise Enron’s true debt. In fact, CIBC’s improper FAS 140 transactionsgenerated over $1.7 billion of operating cash flow for Enron and hid over $1.0 billion of debt.508. The Enron Examiner, who independently reviewed the CIBC FAS 140 transactions,reached the same conclusion. He found that “CIBC knew the accounting results Enron sought toachieve in the FAS 140 transactions”; that CIBC “obtained verbal assurances” of repayment fromthe Insiders “knowing that the assurances likely would not be disclosed” and, had they been604041v1/007457-164-