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Current BW Magazine Table of Contents

January 28, 2002 BW Magazine Table of Contents

January 28, 2002 The Enron Scandal Table of Contents

THE ENRON SCANDAL
Can You Trust Anybody?

Portrait of a Whistle-Blower

Making Debt Disappear

Who Else Has Hidden Debt?

The Heat on Enron's Lawyers

Can Andersen survive?

Commentary: Enron

The fallout for Washington

Fixing the Accounting Mess

A Black Eye for GAAP

COLUMNS FORUMS NEWSLETTERS PERSONAL FINANCE SEARCH SPECIAL REPORTS TOOLS VIDEO VIEWS

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JANUARY 28, 2002

SPECIAL REPORT -- THE ENRON SCANDAL
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Out of Sight

Many companies keep debts and other obligations out of investors' view in
partnerships and other entities. Often, financial liabilities are secured
by physical assets such as planes or computers. A sample:


ESTIMATED EXPOSURE COMPANY ITEM NOT ON BALANCE SHEET (BILLIONS)

UAL Plane leases $12.7

AMR Plane leases 7.9

J.P. MORGAN CHASE Liability for trading units 1.0*

DELL COMPUTER Debt of consumer financing venture N/A**

ELECTRONIC DATA Payments for SYSTEMS customers' computers 0.5



* Exposure to Enron through Mahonia ** Joint venture partner Tyco Intl. is responsible for losses

Data: Standard & Poor's, company reports






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