Also taking the Fifth Amendment after they were called before the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations were former Enron Managing Director Michael J. Kopper, former Managing Director of Enron Global Finance Richard Buy, and Richard Causey, chief accounting officer for Enron.

Former Enron Chief Executive Officer Jeff Skilling was scheduled to appear before the panel later Thursday. Also in the hearing audience, representing Enron employees, many of whom lost substantial portions of their life savings in the bankruptcy, was the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

Witnesses were greeted Thursday morning by subcommittee Chairmen Rep. James Greenwood, R-Pa., who used the Book of Proverbs from the Bible -- "He that troubleth his own house will inherit the wind" -- to reference the Enron executives and their activities that led to the collapse the of energy giant and the December filing of the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

"Mr. Fastow, aided by a number of those witnesses subpoenaed here today, shared in huge fee totaling in tens of millions of dollars to arrange and participate in bizarre transitions that were at the least imprudent and at worst contrary to the very interest of the company, shareholders and investors they were duty-bound to serve."

Thursday's appearances marked the first time since Enron Corp.'s collapse that past and present company executives presented themselves to a congressional panel. While many of those called arrived in answer to a subpoena, Skilling's testimony was voluntary.

Former Chairman Kenneth Lay abruptly canceled his own testimony earlier this week, after his attorney complained of a prosecutorial atmosphere on Capitol Hill. Lay subsequently was subpoenaed to appear before two congressional committees next week.

Lawmakers are anxious to hear from Skilling, who was in charge of overseeing the off-the-book partnerships set up by Fastow. Skilling resigned as chief executive of Enron in August after pocketing $67 million from selling company stock.

On Wednesday, Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., committee chairman, said congressional investigators found substantial evidence of illegal activity by Enron and its management.

Enron managers engaged in self-dealing transactions and reported fictitious gains on the deals with partnerships known as LJM and Raptor to inflate the company's profits by more than $1 billion over a three-year period, Tauzin said.

"In the end, it turns out that the Enron debacle is an old-fashioned example of theft by insiders, and a failure by those responsible for them to prevent that theft," he said.

A key focus of the hearing will be why Skilling did not take action after McMahon, then Enron's treasurer, approached him in March 2000 with concerns about the company's dealings with the LJM partnerships.

According to a report by a special committee of the company's board, released Saturday, Skilling told the committee he had little to do with the LJM and Raptor partnership deals. But he was responsible for signing off on them.

In the report, McMahon alleged Skilling approved one partnership transaction designed to conceal substantial losses in the company's merchant investments and later withheld the information from the board.

Skilling denied the accusations. McMahon is now Enron's president and chief operating officer.

Attempts to contact Bruce Hiller, Skilling's attorney, late Wednesday were unsuccessful.

In addition to more than 10 congressional probes, investigations are under way by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Labor Department. The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation.

In other developments:

Ken and Linda Lay are trying to sell millions of dollars worth of real estate in Houston; Galveston, Texas; and Aspen, Colo. The Houston Chronicle reports one local property recently sold for more than $200,000. Deals are nearly final for two holdings in Aspen valued at more than $6 million.

Officials have taken down the Enron Boys and Girls Club sign and put up the new one: Holthouse Boys and Girls Club. Michael Holthouse and his Holthouse Foundation for Kids agreed to provide the club $200,000 a year for five years after Enron backed out of a similar commitment late last year.

U.S. life insurer John Hancock Financial Services Inc. said its quarterly profits dropped by more than half as it took charges to cover bad investments in collapsed energy trader Enron. The Boston-based insurer reported a net profit of $102.3 million, or 34 cents a share, down from $226.4 million, or 72 cents a share, in the same quarter a year earlier.

-- By T.K. Maloy, UPI Assistant Business Editor (Chris Sieroty contributed to this story from Washington.)