Enron CEO Requests $25M 'Success Fee'

The corporate turnaround specialist who led Enron Corp. through one of the most expensive bankruptcies in history has put a $25 million price tag on his work for the company.

Stephen Cooper, who has served as Enron's interim chief executive since January 2002, requested the fee from a U.S. bankruptcy judge in New York earlier this month. In addition to Cooper's fee, the hearing also included final fee and expense requests from lawyers, accountants and other professionals involved in case. The additional reimbursement requests total $689 million -- reduced from more than $714 million by a court-appointed committee.

Cooper and his firm, KZC Catalyst Partners LLC, have already received $107 million in professional fees. In court, he noted that his firm had guided Enron through the complicated bankruptcy without selling its major assets at low prices in the slow economy of 2002. Enron declared bankruptcy in December 2001, and emerged only a year ago.

Cooper also leads the troubled doughnut-maker Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. He had originally requested his Enron fees a year ago, but a judge said that he would not make a ruling until all of the case's final fee and expense requests had been made. A decision is expected shortly.

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