Ex-Merrill Lynch execs surrender in Enron case

Three former executives from Merrill Lynch surrendered to federal authorities Wednesday to face criminal charges stemming from an illegal transaction that helped Enron Corp. record a bogus $12 million profit and boost its quarterly earnings in 1999, according to the Department of Justice. Daniel Bayly, the former head of the global investment banking division at Merrill Lynch; James A. Brown, head of Merrill Lynch's strategic asset lease and finance group; and Robert S. Furst, the Enron relationship manager for Merrill Lynch in the investment banking division, are accused of knowingly participating in a sham sale of three barges moored off the Nigerian coast. All three surrendered at the Houston office of the FBI. A spokesperson at Merrill Lynch declined to comment.