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CNN Live At Daybreak

Kopper Described As Quiet, Strategic

Aired February 08, 2002 - 06:11   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: An aide to Andrew Fastow allegedly got rich from those same partnerships. Like his boss, Michael Kopper wasn't talking to lawmakers yesterday.

CNN's Fred Katayama has Kopper's story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRED KATAYAMA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His former associates describe him as strategic and quiet, and he was just that before Congress today.

KOPPER: I respectfully decline to answer the question based on my right under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution not to be a witness against myself.

KATAYAMA: Michael Kopper worked as Andrew Fastow's aide. He's just a mid-level executive, but his name surfaces 108 times in an internal report, much more often than former CEOs Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling. The report says he violated the company's ethics code while making millions of dollars.

Kopper, now 37, grew up outside New York City in an upper-middle class neighborhood. In high school, the ambitious senior vowed to become, in his words, successful in all my endeavors. His high school English teacher remembers him more as a follower than a leader.

ALANA CARACCIO, HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER: He was not one to necessarily volunteer an answer. He would be called on and know the answer but he was a very quiet, withdrawn student.

KATAYAMA: An economics major at Duke, he got a second degree at the London School of Economics, but finished in the bottom fifth of his accounting class. After a stint in finance at Toronto Dominion Bank, he joined Enron in 1994. His knack for doing lucrative deals helped him rise to managing director of Enron's global finance unit.

(on camera): People who worked with Kopper describe him as a strategic thinker, a good boss. They say he was Fastow's right-hand man working on special projects, code word for partnerships. The report says the company used those arrangements to hide debt and executives like Kopper used them to enrich themselves.

(voice-over): He and his domestic partner, William Dodson, live in this upscale Houston neighborhood, where houses sell for upwards of half a million dollars. He drives a black Mercedes. According to the report, Fastow chose a lower ranking executive, i.e.: Kopper, to run a partnership called Chewco.

By doing so, Fastow could avoid disclosing his role. Kopper and Dodson, a Continental Airlines executive, invested $125,000. Then, Kopper transferred his stake to Dodson. Enron bought back Chewco's interest in another partnership, yielding the pair $10.5 million.

Kopper couldn't have anticipated this, but there was an eerie lyric he chose from pop singer Billy Joel for his high school yearbook. It reads, "We are always what our situations hand us. It's either sadness or euphoria."

At Enron, what he did to bring about euphoria brought about his sad state today. Fred Katayama, CNN Financial News, Houston, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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