Former Enron, Merrill Execs Face New Counts

Six former executives of Enron Corp. and Merrill Lynch & Co. face additional charges in their fraud trial scheduled to begin Aug. 16, the Justice Department said.

A federal grand jury in Houston returned a new indictment that adds two charges of wire fraud against the four former Merrill Lynch executives and the two former Enron executives. The defendants are accused of conspiring through a secret oral agreement to have Enron sell electricity-generating barges in Nigeria to Merrill Lynch to help the energy trader inflate earnings.

The indictment also adds one charge of making a false statement against a former vice president in Enron’s global finance unit.