The ghost of Enron continues to haunt its former employees.

On Oct. 13 the SEC charged three ex-officials with fraud and aiding and abetting Enron's violations of the regulatory agency's reporting, record-keeping and internal controls provisions.

Former accountant and executive Jerry Kent Castleman and former executives Cheryl Lipshutz and Kathleen Lynn allegedly engaged in a fraudulent transaction to manipulate Enron's publicly reported earnings, which resulted in Enron filing materially false and misleading financial statements.

Part of the SEC's complaint alleges the three former execs knew or were reckless in not knowing of the existence of an illegal side agreement between Enron and a related party called LJM Cayman LP, in which Enron agreed to sell LJM a troubled power plant in Brazil. As part of the deal, Enron made an oral side agreement that LJM would not lose money on the investment, an agreement that was never memorialized in deal documents nor disclosed to Enron's auditor.

After the SEC filed the complaint against the three defendants, Lipshutz consented to the entry of a final judgment that requires her to pay more than $50,000, though she hasn't admitted or denied any wrongdoing. Meanwhile the agency continues to investigate the others involved in the LJM deal.