One less witness..
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Chicago Tribune
Chicago, Illinois
January 25, 2002
Former Enron exec found dead
Officials: J. Clifford Baxter died of apparent suicide
The Associated Press
Published January 25, 2002, 11:48 AM CST
HOUSTON -- A former Enron Corp. executive who challenged the company's
questionable financial practices and resigned last May was found shot to
death in a car today, an apparent suicide, authorities said.
Police in the suburb, Sugar Land, confirmed the death of 43-year-old
J. Clifford Baxter, a former Enron vice chairman. He was shot in the head.
"We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our friend and
colleague, Cliff Baxter. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and
friends," the company said in a statement.
Spokesman Mark Palmer had no additional comment.
Baxter was vice chairman of Enron when he resigned in May 2001,
several months before the energy company's collapse.
Baxter was identified by name in the explosive warning that Enron
executive Sherron Watkins wrote last August to company chairman Ken Lay.
"Cliff Baxter complained mightily to (then-CEO Jeff) Skilling and all
who would listen about the inappropriateness of our transactions with LJM,"
one of the partnerships that kept hundreds of millions of dollars in debt
off Enron's books.
Watkins identified Baxter in a section of her letter stating there is
"a veil of secrecy around LJM and Raptor," another entity involved in the
partnerships.
Watkins' letter to Lay stated that "we will implode in a wave of
accounting scandals" unless the company halted practices that eventually
sent it into bankruptcy.
His body was found at 2:23 a.m. today in a car parked in between two
medians in a residential area in Sugar Land. He was in the driver's seat of
the vehicle and a police officer stopped to check on him after noticing the
parked car.
Jim Richard, a Fort Bend County justice of the peace, ruled Baxter's
death a suicide.
Baxter was one of 29 former and current Enron executives and board
members named as defendants in a federal lawsuit. Plaintiffs' lawyers said
the executives made $1.1 billion by selling Enron stock between October 1998
and November 2001.
It said Baxter had sold 577,436 shares for $35.2 million.
At the time his resignation was announced, Skilling said Baxter had
made "a tremendous contribution to Enron's evolution, particularly as a
member of the team that built Enron's wholesale business."
It said his primary reason for resigning was to spend more time with
his family.
Baxter had joined Enron in 1991 and was chairman and CEO of Enron
North America prior to being named chief strategy officer for Enron Corp. in
June 2000 and vice chairman in October 2000, the company said.
Copyright � 2002, The Associated Press
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