Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has called on federal regulators to take legal action against Enron corporate officers for allegedly engaging in insider trading of company stock, and to freeze all proceeds arising from illegal stock sales pending the outcome of the litigation.

In a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Boxer claimed that Enron top officers and directors profited in excess of $1.1 billion from alleged insider sales’ transactions of more than 17.3 million shares during a three-year period.

Former Chairman Kenneth Lay made more than $101 million; ex-CEO Jeffrey Skilling profited more than $66 million; and former CFO Andrew Fastow walked away with in excess of $30 million, she said in her March 1 letter to SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt.

“There is mounting evidence that while these sales were occurring, the firm’s financial problems were known to Enron executives — and known by them well before they were known to anyone else,” Boxer wrote. Their actions, she believes, violated a federal statute which prohibits any individual from “purchasing or selling a security…while in possession of material, nonpublic information.”

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