Enron's Travelgate?

While Congress investigates insider trading by Enron executives, CBS News has learned that questionable financial dealings may extend to the family of former CEO Kenneth Lay.

Lay's sister Sharon owns Alliance Worldwide, a travel agency that had offices right inside Enron headquarters. Alliance got millions of dollars in guaranteed commissions and became one of Houston's business elite, reports CBS News Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson.

The AFL-CIO, which invested in Enron stock and has employees working for the company, raised concerns about possible conflicts of interest.

"We started first in 1997 when we saw the family dealings first come to surface," said AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Richard Trumka. "We questioned them at a board meeting and we were told 'Oh don't worry. Everything will be just fine.'"

But there may have been another kind of favoritism happening in the weeks before Enron's collapse. A register shows payments from Enron to the travel agency ranging from $29 to several hundred dollars. But suddenly, less than three weeks before bankruptcy, there's a huge check for $350,000.

A source says it wasn't billed under the normal travel codes. Documents obtained by CBS News show it listed as a "utility payment," issued as an emergency check and cashed the very next day.

CBS News Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen says that even if the payment was for legitimate services the bankruptcy court could decide it's a preferential payment for the sister of the CEO and take it back.

"Bankruptcy laws are designed in part to make sure that a company that is about to go into bankruptcy doesn't pay off its friends, its relatives and other insiders," said Cohen.

Two weeks after the first check, another giant check for $350,000 was authorized to Sharon Lay's travel agency. But this time, just days before Enron's bankruptcy, the check doesn't clear.

Late Thursday, Enron said the payments were monthly management fees to the travel agency. If Enron was paying the company $350,000 a month – $4 million a year – above and beyond all the travel commissions, it was never mentioned in the required government filings.

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