The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged three former Enron employees with violating securities laws, and one of them, a former Enron vice president, has settled the charges.

On October 12, the SEC charged the former Enron executives with violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and aiding and abetting Enron’s violations of the reporting, record-keeping and internal controls provisions. It alleges that they engaged in a fraudulent transaction to manipulate Enron’s publicly-reported earnings, which resulted in Enron filing materially false and misleading financial statements.

The complaint seeks permanent injunctions, disgorgement with prejudgment interest and penalties from each of the defendants, as well as an order barring one of them from serving as an officer or director of a publicly-traded company.

Without admitting or denying the commission’s allegations, one of the executives consented to the entry of a final judgment that permanently enjoins her from violating the identified provisions, and orders her to pay disgorgement of US$20,000, prejudgment interest of US$7,150 and a penalty of US$25,000.