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Enron Corp. - University of California | Office of The President

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651. Each <strong>of</strong> the banks named as defendants knew:<br />

(a) <strong>Enron</strong> had set up the LJM2 vehicle with the help <strong>of</strong> Merrill Lynch so that<br />

<strong>Enron</strong> could use SPEs funded by that vehicle to engage in non-arm's-length self-dealing transactions<br />

which would enrich the investors in the LJM2 partnership and, at the same time, permit <strong>Enron</strong> to<br />

generate artificial pr<strong>of</strong>its and conceal its true debt level by moving billions <strong>of</strong> dollars <strong>of</strong> debt <strong>of</strong>f its<br />

balance sheet and onto the balance sheet <strong>of</strong> LJM2's SPEs;<br />

(b) <strong>Enron</strong> was also engaging in similar non-arm's-length transactions with another<br />

limited partnership and associated SPE known as Chewco, which was also permitting <strong>Enron</strong> to<br />

artificially inflate its reported earnings while moving large amounts <strong>of</strong> debt <strong>of</strong>f its balance sheet;<br />

(c) <strong>Enron</strong>'s actual financial condition and results from operations were far worse<br />

than what was being publicly disclosed or presented: (i) because <strong>Enron</strong> was falsifying its financial<br />

results and misusing and abusing mark-to-market accounting, <strong>Enron</strong>'s pr<strong>of</strong>itability was far less than<br />

publicly reported; (ii) because <strong>Enron</strong> was improperly moving debt <strong>of</strong>f its balance sheet and onto the<br />

balance sheets <strong>of</strong> entities it secretly controlled, <strong>Enron</strong>'s true debt level and leverage was much higher<br />

than what was being publicly presented; and (iii) because <strong>of</strong> the foregoing, <strong>Enron</strong>'s liquidity and<br />

creditworthiness were far worse than publicly known and its financial condition much more<br />

leveraged and precarious than was being disclosed to public investors; and<br />

(d) <strong>Enron</strong> had entered into a number <strong>of</strong> transactions with secretly controlled SPEs,<br />

which would require <strong>Enron</strong> to issue millions <strong>of</strong> shares <strong>of</strong> <strong>Enron</strong> common stock. If <strong>Enron</strong>'s common<br />

stock fell below trigger prices ranging from $83-$19 per share, the debt <strong>of</strong> the SPEs with which<br />

<strong>Enron</strong> was doing business would not, in fact, be non-recourse to <strong>Enron</strong> as represented but, in fact,<br />

would become and be recourse to <strong>Enron</strong> if, as and when <strong>Enron</strong>'s credit rating was lowered –<br />

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