WASHINGTON AP – The Securities and Exchange Commission has decided to support shareholders suing Wall Street banks for damages over Enron’s collapse in a significant case before the Supreme Court, according to a newspaper report Saturday.
The Enron shareholders’ $40 billion lawsuit contends that Merrill Lynch & Co., Barclays PLC and Credit Suisse Group should be held equally liable as Enron Corp. as participants in the energy company’s massive accounting fraud. Thirty states took the shareholders’ side, and the SEC’s widely awaited position has been viewed by some observers as a key test of the agency’s leanings on questions of investor protection under Chairman Christopher Cox.
