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Bank Of America Investment Yesterday former Enron insider Michael Kopper copped a plea. The former assistant to former Enron CFO, Andrew Fastow, jumped the first deal-express leaving the Department of Justice.

Almost $700 may not seem like a lot of money to you, but to an Enron exec it could mean the difference between a vacation spent in DC, golfing in Florida and a Mediterranean cruise. For you, seven hundred dollars is nothing more than rent, a car note or mortgage payments. But to an Enron exec $700 will almost replace his per diem. Your commitment of less than $700 a day will enable an Enron exec to buy that home entertainment center, old Lexus for a new Ferrari, or enjoy a weekend in Rio.

Investment Opportunity The Department of Justice had been under growing pressure, even from mainstream sources like CNN Moneyline host, Lou Dobbs, to indict someone from Enron. Dobbs has been running a corporate crime indictment "scorecard" for weeks now. Before yesterday's guilty plea Dobb's scorecard showed 18 arrests involving other corporate failures but zero for Enron.

Florida's pension fund lost $335 million on its Enron investments, more than any other public entity.

Banc Of America Investment With Kopper's cooperation in hand, federal prosecutors finally moved to seize some $23 million in cash, real estate and other assets held by Fastow, his family and a handful of close associates. Among the items prosecutors have asked the court to seize is Fastow's unfinished 12,000 square foot Houston mansion.

A week after Mr Fastow's plea, former Enron chief accounting officer Rick Causey was indicted on six fraud counts, but he pleaded not guilty and was released on $1m bail. Mr Causey's indictment mentioned that Mr Lay and Mr Skilling, identified by title rather than name, were among "the principal managers of Enron's finances" and accused Mr Causey "and others" of lying about earnings.

Banking Investment As part of his plea deal Kopper has agreed to turn over $12 million in gains he made during his time at Enron.

The University of California, named lead plaintiff in the case because of its size and experience in similar litigation, said it lost almost $145 million on its Enron investment. "The university is participating in this lawsuit ... because of our concern for the integrity of the capital markets, " U.C. General Counsel James Holst told a news conference Monday. books deals facilitated by banks that were later exposed as sham transactions designed to hide Enron' - - very rich.

Investment Solution Strategic The $35 million the feds hope to recover from Fastow and Kopper will go into a restitution fund for victims. But, the money will make a negligible dent in the billions of dollars lost by shareholders and pension funds. Pension funds alone lost over $1.2 billion when Enron collapsed. And, Enron's own workers lost over $1 billion in retirement savings.

Some businesspeople have a different view. "Enron is affecting the whole U.S. economy, particularly the energy industry, " said analyst Christopher Ellinghaus of Williams Capital Co., a New York investment firm. "At a time when the U.S. needs to improve its energy infrastructure with transmission lines and power plants, the Enron case has changed the credit market's whole view of debt and put off projects, " Ellinghaus said.

Investment Banking Services So, far no action has been taken to secure the assets of Enron 's former Chairman, Kenneth Lay or its former CEO, Jeffery Skilling.

Bank Investment "Technically anything purchased with ill-gotten gains belongs to the government and if someone knows about its taint, they can legally never get title to it," Kent Schaffer, a criminal defense attorney who has handled many forfeitures, told reporters yesterday.

Alternative Investment If the forfeiture is granted - a rarity in white-collar cases when a person has not yet been charged - the court freezes the property and manages it until there is an indictment and verdict. The court oversees the distribution of the assets to the victims or a victim's recovery fund.

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