There are a lot of energy companies that engaged in sham transactions."

The sham transaction being investigated by regulators occurred shortly after that.

The companies apologized for the sham transactions and said they would have to restate some of their financial reports.

The lower court had found the technique to be built on "sham transactions" with no purpose other than generating tax savings.

Some such loans were also sham transactions aimed at evading gift taxes.

"I believe these trades were sham transactions," Ms. Lynch said.

The Government contends that these were sham transactions undertaken to create the appearance of a profit through accounting techniques.

"This scheme was accomplished through sham transactions."

By improperly including overhead expenses or sham transactions as part of their charity work, nonprofits can appear more efficient than they really are.

Robert A. Wright, Amcor's president, says no one at headquarters knew of any sham transactions.

More troubling, and perhaps hardest to answer: How can the telecommunications industry, now plagued by suspicions of sham transactions and accounting, right itself?

A.I.G. engaged in what regulators describe as sham transactions to inflate its reserves by $500 million.

The ethics committee could rationally find "reason to believe" that Mrs. Wright's salary might be one of several sham transactions.

The S.E.C. wants to know whether contracts in some cases were sham transactions to create the appearance of revenue that did not exist.

Global Crossing faces accusations that it used sham transactions to increase revenue and that it misled investors about its financial health.

"This was absolutely a sham transaction, and it was an 11th hour deal," said one former Enron executive who was briefed on the deal.

Under the law, such an agreement would render sales by Enron to LJM as sham transactions.

Various accountants and regulators later charged that Mr. Keating's empire was built on sham transactions and fraud.

Mrs. Clinton first said that she had never done any work on Castle Grande, which was termed a sham transaction by bank examiners.

But Aura, the Securities and Exchange Commission said yesterday, showed success in that regard only by engaging in sham transactions.

But these documents were misleading because Mr. Kasarjian helped Bennett cover up losses by engaging in sham transactions, the information says.

He said the purchases would probably not violate House ethics rules, unless they were "sham transactions" intended to influence Mr. Wright's actions in Congress.

He is charged with participating in a scheme in which Lincoln engaged in sham transactions intended to raise the profits of American Continental.

"We're concerned these companies' swaps were merely sham transactions meant to artificially increase revenue and mislead investors," Mr. Greenwood said yesterday.

To make sure that insurers are not padding their accounts through sham transactions, regulators require at least a modicum of risk to be transferred in any insurance deal.