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

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emaining from Bankers Trust to <strong>Enron</strong> and substantial tax advantages to Bankers Trust arising from<br />

the exploitation <strong>of</strong> tax rules concerning financial asset securitization investment trusts. For its part,<br />

<strong>Enron</strong> received a million dollar fee that it used to artificially inflate its earnings and – more<br />

importantly – <strong>Enron</strong> was able to further reward Bankers Trust/Deutsche Bank for being its partner<br />

in the fraudulent tax schemes detailed above.<br />

797.32 Like Renegade, Project Valhalla resulted in earnings and substantial tax benefits to<br />

Deutsche Bank, which paid substantial fees to <strong>Enron</strong> for its involvement. Indeed, <strong>Enron</strong>'s fees were<br />

based upon the amount <strong>of</strong> benefit to Deutsche Bank. In effect, Project Valhalla took advantage <strong>of</strong><br />

differing tax treatment under German and U.S laws. Put simply, Deutsche Bank received a stream<br />

<strong>of</strong> income from <strong>Enron</strong> that was not taxable under German law, but Deutsche Bank financed this<br />

income stream by making payments to <strong>Enron</strong> for which it took tax deductions on the interest portion<br />

under U.S. tax laws. For its part in this fraudulent transaction, <strong>Enron</strong> "earned" and artificially<br />

inflated its reported net income by $7 million in 00 and $9 million in the first three quarters <strong>of</strong> 01.<br />

Recognizing that the transaction would likely draw fire from regulators if it were exposed in <strong>Enron</strong>'s<br />

bankruptcy, Deutsche Bank substantially ended the arrangement shortly before <strong>Enron</strong> filed for<br />

bankruptcy protection.<br />

798. During the Class Period, Deutsche Bank knew that <strong>Enron</strong> was falsifying its publicly<br />

reported financial results and that its true financial condition was much more precarious than was<br />

publicly known. It obtained this knowledge due to its access to <strong>Enron</strong>'s internal business and<br />

financial information as <strong>Enron</strong>'s lead lending bank, as well as its intimate interaction with <strong>Enron</strong>'s<br />

top <strong>of</strong>ficials which occurred virtually on a daily basis.<br />

799. Thus, Deutsche Bank is directly liable to the Class for making false and misleading<br />

statements in Registration Statements and Prospectuses utilized by <strong>Enron</strong> and Deutsche Bank to raise<br />

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