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New York: Enron creditors suing Citigroup for as much as $20 billion want to interview its former employees after one, Steven Diglio, said he was barred from questioning the bank's relationship with the energy trader.
The creditors said on March 19 in a New York bankruptcy court that they want a protective order that will allow pre-trial interviews with Citigroup employees.
In documents outlining their request, they included an affidavit from Diglio, a former vice-president and credit analyst.
Diglio said he had questioned Citigroup's relationship with Enron before the energy giant's collapse in 2001, and that the information he had was widely known among his supervisors.
"After I sent an e-mail questioning the appropriateness of continuing to do business with Enron, I was told not to do so again," Digilio said in an affidavit.
Afterwards, he said he believed he saw "a handwritten annotation on an article about Enron and Citigroup that may have had the word 'fraud' in it."
Sole defendant
Citigroup is the sole remaining defendant in lawsuits brought by Enron Creditors Recovery Corp, a firm formed to pursue claims on behalf of creditors. US Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez said he planned to hold a trial on April 28. Citigroup spokes-woman Danielle Romero-Apsilos didn't comment.
Protective orders are necessary to interview witnesses without having them violate any severance agreements they may have signed, Enron's creditors said in court documents.
A hearing on the request will be held April 10.
Citigroup has said the suit is meritless. The banks recently lost a bid to have the trial on Enron's claims moved to US District Court in New York.
It had asked for a jury trial and said the district court is better suited than the bankruptcy court to handle a trial with as many as 165 witnesses.
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