HOUSTON (Bloomberg) — A former Enron Corp. lawyer asked a US judge to throw out a suit by the Securities and Exchange Commission accusing him of helping former chairman Kenneth Lay mislead investors by approving false financial statements.Rex Rogers, Enron's former deputy general counsel, timed certain legal transactions to minimise the impact on regulatory filings and maximise profits, the SEC claims in its suit. Rogers denies wrongdoing and says in court papers filed June 4 that the case should be dismissed because the SEC waited too long after Enron's collapse to bring claims against him.

Rogers was duped by "certain senior Enron officials who, as the government has charged in earlier prosecutions, went to great lengths to conceal their allegedly wrongful conduct," attorney Ed Tomko said in his motion to dismiss the civil case. "Now, more than five years after the events, the Commission seeks to punish Rogers for those actions of others."

More than 5,000 jobs and $1 billion in employee pensions were wiped out when Enron fell into bankruptcy in December 2001, following revelations of widespread accounting fraud. Fifteen former Enron executives have pleaded guilty to crimes related to the conspiracy that destroyed the world's largest energy trader.