Milberg Weiss Files Class Action Suit Against Enron Corp.'s Officers and Directors

Business Wire, Dec 5, 2001

Business Editors/Financial Analysts

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 5, 2001

Milberg Weiss (http://www.milberg.com/enroncorp) today announced that a class action has been commenced on behalf of an institutional investor, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas on behalf of purchasers of Enron Corporation ("Enron") (NYSE:ENE) publicly traded securities during the period between October 19, 1998 and November 27, 2001 (the "Class Period").

If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than 60 days from October 22, 2001. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff's counsel, William Lerach or Darren Robbins of Milberg Weiss at 800/449-4900 or via e-mail at wsl@milberg.com or Steven G. Schulman or Samuel H. Rudman at 800/320-5081 or via e-mail at enroncase@milbergNY.com. If you are a member of this class, you can join this class action online at http://www.milberg.com/enroncorp/. Any member of the purported class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member.

The complaint charges certain of Enron's officers and directors and its auditors with violations of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Enron is engaged in the businesses of natural gas, electricity and communications to wholesale and retail customers. The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants engaged in massive insider trading while issuing false financial statements and making false and misleading statements about the Company's purportedly "record" results and strong operating performance. As a result of these false statements, the Company's stock traded as high as $90.75, allowing defendants to sell 17.3 million of their own Enron shares for proceeds of $1.1 billion.

Beginning in late 2001, it was revealed that the Company would be incurring losses of $1 billion for certain of its divisions and that Enron would be restating its results for 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000, and the first two quarters of 2001, to correct for errors which had inflated Enron's net income by $591 million in those years. The impact of the restatement was enormous.

Upon these disclosures, Enron's stock dropped to as low as $8.20 before closing at $8.41 on November 8, 2001, some 91% below the Class Period high of $90.75. Then, on November 28, 2001, it was revealed that the attempted acquisition of Enron by Dynegy Inc. would be scuttled. Thereafter, Enron's debt was cut to junk bond status and its stock dropped to just $0.26 per share. Then, on December 2, 2001, Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of Enron publicly traded securities during the Class Period (the "Class"). The plaintiff is represented by Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP, who has expertise in prosecuting investor class actions and extensive experience in actions involving financial fraud.

Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP, a 170-lawyer firm with offices in New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boca Raton, Seattle and Philadelphia, is active in major litigations pending in federal and state courts throughout the United States. Milberg Weiss has taken a leading role in many important actions on behalf of defrauded investors, consumers, and companies, as well as victims of World War II and other human rights violations, and has been responsible for more than $30 billion in aggregate recoveries. The Milberg Weiss website (http://www.milberg.com) has more information about the firm.