Mediator Named in Enron Case

NEW YORK -- The federal judge who oversaw litigation in some of the major accounting fraud scandals of the 1990s has been called upon to mediate among claimants in the Enron Corp. bankruptcy and shareholder class actions, the New York Law Journal reported.

White Plains, N.Y.-based Senior Judge William C. Conner of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York was named Monday by joint order of Southern District Bankruptcy Judge Arthur J. Gonzalez, who has been presiding over Enron's Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and Judge Melinda Harmon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, who has been overseeing Enron shareholder litigation.

Through much of the 1990s, Judge Conner presided over suits arising from accounting fraud at the Leslie Fay Co., a major women's clothing manufacturer. In 1997, he approved a $34 million settlement paid by the company's officers, directors and its accounting firm, BDO Seidman.

At roughly the same time, Conner also oversaw suits by insurers against Ernst & Young over the accounting firm's certification of annual reports by JWP Inc., a large electrical contracting company. Conner found that JWP's subsequent default was caused by post-audit business events unrelated to misleading financial statements.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 06/19/03