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Enron went out with a bang. From Ben Glisan's testimony today (John Roper at the Chronicle's Enron TrialWatch):

Glisan described as "ugly" a meeting in late 2001 in The Woodlands, TX, where top executives described Enron's dour financial straits.

Heads of the various business units who were at the meeting were accustomed to touting their financial success and growth. But this time they detailed in a roundtable discussion their mounting losses and grim outlook.

"It was ugly," said Glisan, who was in attendance at the meeting being run by Ken Lay.

Glisan recalled for jurors the comments of meeting attendee John Lavorato, at the time a high-ranking executive for Enron North America.

"He made the comment that he was glad he didn't have a gun or he would shoot himself," Glisan said.

Shoot himself? In fact, another "high-ranking executive" of Enron North America, the former chairman and chief executive and Skilling's self-proclaimed "best friend," did exactly that in January 2002.

I still have a hunch that the allegedly suicidal Baxter holds some sort of key to the prosecution of these cases. As whistleblower Sherron Watkins wrote, "Cliff Baxter complained mightily to Skilling and all who would listen about the inappropriateness of our transactions with LJM."

{ 11:21 AM }

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