In a regulatory U-4 filing last August to the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), a former UBS PaineWebber adviser based in Houston said he believes he was fired after he told some of his clients to sell their Enron Corp. stock. Chung Wu said in an Aug. 31, 2001 filing that he had sent an e-mail to more than 10 of his clients Aug. 21, 2001 voicing concerns about Enron’s future and advising them to sell. He was fired the same day.

The two-year employee’s recommendation followed the departure of former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, who resigned in mid-August citing personal reasons. When Wu sent the e-mail, Enron’s stock stood at about $36. Following his dismissal, Wu accepted a position in the Houston office of A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. Other UBS PaineWebber advisers continued to recommend Enron stock — like many other analysts — until shortly before Enron filed for bankruptcy in December (see Daily GPI, Feb. 28).

“Enron management was not pleased and due to the employee stock option relationship UBS PaineWebber has with them, the pressure came from my corporate office to the branch level to dismiss me,” Wu wrote to the NASD. “I told the truth to my clients.” The NASD is a self-regulatory securities industry organization.

UBS PaineWebber said Wu was dismissed for sending the e-mails, with David Walker telling the Associated Press that Wu had failed “to follow firm policy and regulatory requirements that he obtain prior management approval before sending firm correspondence to clients.”

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