A group of US insurers have accused JP Morgan Chase of being too close to Enron when it structured deals allegedly aimed at hiding Enron's debts.
The trial began yesterday with the US bank claiming that the insurers were trying to escape with $1 billion.
The insurers, including Chubb Corpation and Hartford Financial Services, have said they were misled over the nature of the deals.
Under the deals in question, J P Morgan, through a related entity called Mahonia, paid $1.9 billion to Enron in exchange for gas shipments to Mahonia.
The insurers claim that the transactions were disguised loans to Enron and that no gas changed hands.
Mahonia, via J P. Morgan, then sold the commodities to other companies - sometimes back to Enron in "circular deals".
However J P Morgan maintains the insurance firms knew the deals with Enron were financing arrangements. But they deny the deals constitute a loan.
The trial is expected to last for about three weeks.
