Following permission from the court overseeing Enron Corp.’s bankruptcy case, the company’s creditors filed a lawsuit Monday seeking the $12 million that former executive Michael J. Kopper had agreed to turn over to the U.S. government.

Kopper, who helped former CFO Andrew Fastow set up and manage some of Enron’s questionable partnerships, pleaded guilty last week to fraud and money laundering conspiracies, and agreed to turn over the millions he confessed to illegally obtaining (see Daily GPI, Aug. 22). Kopper managed Enron’s off-sheet partnership LJM2 Capital unit, which was estimated to hold about $4 million of the total amount Kopper agreed to give up.

The creditors’ committee sued Kopper and LJM2 to recover the money and to help repay some of the $50 billion they claim they are owed by Enron. The lawsuit asks the government to relinquish control over Kopper’s illegal gains. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur J. Gonzalez, who is overseeing Enron’s bankruptcy in a Manhattan court, earlier froze Kopper funds pending a hearing on the lawsuit now scheduled for Wednesday.

In court papers, the creditors’ committee claims that “the $12 million that Kopper and LJM2 hold that he now seeks to turn over to the government should be possessed by Enron.” The papers claim “Kopper would be unjustly enriched if he were permitted to turn over Enron’s property” to a party other than the creditors. Gonzalez has scheduled a hearing on the lawsuit for Wednesday (Aug. 28).

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