Enterasys chairman won’t testify at hearing

The outgoing executive chairman of Enterasys Networks won’t have to testify at the pretrial hearing of the company’s former executives for securities fraud after all.

Defense attorneys have dropped their subpoena of William K. O’Brien in a pretrial hearing scheduled for March 7.

The former executives — charged with a conspiracy to fraudulently inflate when Cabletron spun off Enterasys in 2001 – have claimed government prosecutors have inappropriately been instructed Enterasys not to adequately reimburse their legal costs and block the defenses access to key prosecution witnesses.

Enterasys attorneys said that they were willing to testify themselves, but said O’Brien was enjoying a well-deserved vacation after selling the company to private investors –a deal that closed March 1. – BOB SANDERS