McMahon told a similar tale, except from the trenches. He found it impossible to negotiate with Fastow -- he negotiating on behalf of Enron, Fastow on behalf of the partnerships -- since Fastow was his boss. On March 6, he even discussed his concerns with Baxter, who, according to a memo sent to Lay last August by vice president for corporate development Sherron Watkins, shared those concerns. "We had a conversation about the variety of conflicts [raised by] the LJM [partnership] matters," McMahon said. "He was aware of the conflicts as well as I was. He encouraged me to go see Mr. Skilling directly."

Then Enron's treasurer, McMahon made an appointment to see Skilling on March 16. "I had a long talk with my wife before I entered Skilling's office because I knew the potential ramifications," he said.

The committee had a copy of the notes McMahon had written in preparation for his meeting. "Untenable situation," McMahon wrote. "LJM situation where AF wears 2 hats and upside comp is so great creates a conflict. Right in the middle of. I find myself negotiating with Andy on Enron matters and am pressured to do deals that I do not believe to be in the best interests of the shareholders. My integrity forces me to continue to negotiate the way I believe is correct [however, AF is my boss). In order to continue to do this I MUST know I have support from you and there wont be any ramifications. [Believe it already has affected my comp.]"

Though Skilling was fairly unresponsive, McMahon left the meeting thinking that Skilling had "understood all my concerns and he would remedy the situation."

Skilling had a different take. "Jeff came in and had some concerns about his compensation related to LJM," he said. McMahon was just worried that Fastow would take it out on him financially, Skilling said. He told him, "Jeff, you know how compensation's determined around here" -- with the 20- to 24-member performance review committee, which Fastow sat on. "Jeff, if you negotiate hard on behalf of Enron and take a baseball bat to Andy ... 23 out of 24 on that committee will be cheering for you."

Not long afterwards, McMahon was removed as treasurer and took a different job within the company that he had already been offered and turned down. Skilling maintained that the job, which did not include a raise in pay, was a huge promotion for McMahon and unrelated to the partnership situation. McMahon was replaced as treasurer by Ben Glisan. Not long afterwards, Glisan -- as Salon.com first reported -- turned an investment of approximately $6,000 in one of the partnerships into $1 million in just a few weeks.

McMahon added that Fastow found out about the meeting and told him, "You should assume everything you say to Mr. Skilling gets to me." On the day that Skilling resigned for "personal reasons," and not long before Fastow was forced out of the company, Watkins sent Lay a letter describing the partnerships as "a bit like robbing the bank in one year and trying to pay it back two years later." After that memo was sent, Fastow -- McMahon said -- "at a very high decibel level accused me of being the ghost writer of that letter."

Rep. Greenwood told Skilling that his story and McMahon's just didn't add up. "I can believe him or I can believe you. But there's no way I can believe both." Greenwood then described McMahon to Skilling as having "poured his soul out to you." It left little doubt as to whom Greenwood believed.

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