Execs

The trial of three former Dynegy Inc. executives involved in the financing scheme Project Alpha is expected to begin Aug. 4 and last at least eight weeks, attorneys said last week. Jamie Olis, 37, Gene Shannon Foster, 44, and Helen Christine Sharkey, 31, pleaded innocent in separate appearances before a Houston judge last Tuesday.

The trial of three former Dynegy Inc. executives involved in the financing scheme Project Alpha is expected to begin Aug. 4 and last at least eight weeks, attorneys said Tuesday. Jamie Olis, 37, Gene Shannon Foster, 44, and Helen Christine Sharkey, 31, pleaded innocent in separate appearances before a Houston judge.

It’s not as if Westar Energy hasn’t seen enough trouble, but it’s now reported that top executives of the Kansas-based energy company believed $56,500 in contributions to political groups associated with four leading Republican lawmakers last year would buy them exemption from a controversial federal utility law, The Washington Post reported Friday.

It’s not as if Westar Energy hasn’t seen enough trouble, but it’s now reported that top executives of the Kansas-based energy company believed $56,500 in contributions to political groups associated with four leading Republican lawmakers last year would buy them exemption from a controversial federal utility law, The Washington Post reported Friday.

In another move apparently designed to fend off a hostile proxy battle led by a major investor, embattled El Paso Corp. last Tuesday announced that three of its top executives will leave the company within a month. The company said the move was part of its “clean slate initiative” to slim down operations and further reduce costs.

In another move apparently designed to fend off a hostile proxy battle led by a major investor, embattled El Paso Corp. on Tuesday announced that three of its top executives will leave the company within the next month. The company said the move was part of its “clean slate initiative” to slim down operations and further reduce costs.

Following more than a year of investigations into Enron Corp., former top executives, including the wife of indicted CFO Andrew Fastow, were led in handcuffs into the Houston Federal Courthouse Thursday, where they were charged in various fraud schemes. Fastow, already under indictment on 78 counts of fraud and embezzlement, also was indicted Thursday with 31 additional criminal charges.

With expansion overseas ending in retreat and the continuing liquidity and regulatory problems plaguing natural gas and power utilities, U.S. executives remain perplexed over the market’s direction, according to a new study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).

With expansion overseas ending in retreat and the continuing liquidity and regulatory problems plaguing natural gas and power utilities, U.S. executives remain perplexed over the market’s direction, according to a new study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).