Dave Eberhart, NewsMax.com
Monday, Oct. 7, 2002

Last week, Salon.com editors apologized to readers: "After careful review, Salon’s editors have decided to take down from our Web site an article entitled ‘Tom White played key role in covering up Enron losses’ that we published on Aug. 29… [W]e have been unable to independently confirm the authenticity of an e-mail from former Enron executive and current Army Secretary Thomas White that was quoted in the article.”

But the article’s author Jason Leopold tells NewsMax that he’s getting a bum rap and that what is being overlooked in the media buzz is a complex story he gleaned from a host of documents - besides the infamous alleged White e-mail.

When White made his appearance on Capitol Hill, he stressed a critical point: the Enron division he headed had nothing to with the company’s Wholesale division, which engaged in the financial gimmickry that ultimately brought down the energy services giant.

"[T]he interests of EES [Enron Energy Services, the division White headed] were entirely different from those of Enron Wholesale Services, and it always operated on a strictly arms-length basis with Enron Wholesale that reflected its different business interests,” White testified.

But Leopold disagrees with the arms-length description and tells NewsMax, "I received the e-mail in the context of a 60-page package of other documents, which included confidential EES contracts from Eli Lilly, Owens Corning and Quaker Oats. These documents told the story of how EES set up energy deals through off-the-books partnerships and booked profits that weren't real. The documents clearly show this to be the case.”

Moving on, Leopold focuses on the e-mail.

"Within these documents were several e-mails that state how the unit was losing money and how the division needed to hide any losses before the first quarter of April 2001. In these documents were signature sheets from Tom White and [another Enron executive] and e-mails addressed to both men.”

Leopold added, "I authenticated the documents through Eli Lilly, Quaker, Owens, and through Enron. The people at the companies confirmed their authenticity. I spoke to more than two-dozen, yes 24, former Enron Energy Services executives, including the people whose names are on these documents to authenticate it. They did and since these are sources I cultivated more than one year ago I trusted and still trust them.”

Getting to the subject of the New York Times op-ed piece by Paul Krugman:

"The story was actually out there for three weeks and didn't attract any criticism until Krugman picked it up. However, Krugman clearly took the e-mail out of context and harped on that as a single document when he should have used everything I gathered to tell the whole story. I faxed Krugman the documents prior to his column appearing in the newspaper. When the column appeared, that's when all hell broke loose.”

Meanwhile White spokesman Charles Krohn maintains, "Secretary White’s position is the same as he wrote to the New York Times Sept. 19: ‘I am not aware of the document, nor to the best of my knowledge, has Mr. Leopold contacted me to validate his interpretation. For the record, I do not recall saying or writing anything close to the quote attributed to me.’”

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Enron

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