Enron victims seek SEC’s support

Union officials, state regulators and people who lost retirement savings in the collapse of Enron Corp. urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to support the position of shareholders suing Wall Street banks for damages in a case before the Supreme Court.

The Enron shareholders’ $40-billion lawsuit contends that Merrill Lynch & Co., Credit Suisse Group and Barclays should be held equally liable as Enron as participants in the energy company’s accounting fraud. Thirty states took the shareholders’ side.

The shareholders appealed to the Supreme Court after a federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled in March that they cannot proceed with their class-action lawsuit.

“The SEC must now stand firm and vigorously to protect the public,” said Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union. Silence by the agency on the issue “would be both deafening and dangerous,” he said.

The SEC has not yet filed supporting briefs on either side in the case. The agency declined to comment Wednesday.