The former vice-chairman of Enron who was found dead yesterday apparently fought against the accounting practices that bankrupted the energy firm.
Cliff Baxter was one of 29 executives being sued by shareholders after they cashed in £780 million worth of share options before Enron failed.
Mr Baxter left the company in May after "complaining mightily" about the firm's accounting practices being used to conceal the company's debts.
He was mentioned in a devastating memo sent to then chairman Kenneth Lay last summer by Sherron Watkins, a senior executive.
In the memo she wrote: "Cliff Baxter complained mightily to (former chief executive Jeff) Skilling and all who would listen about the inappropriateness of our transactions with LJM."
Police in his home town of Sugar Land, near Enron's headquarters in Houston, Texas, say Mr Baxter shot himself in his car and left a suicide note beside his body.
The former executive had left Enron in May last year after holding a series of senior positions at the firm in a move which the company said was to "spend more time with his family".
He made £25 million by selling his share options before Enron became the biggest bankruptcy yet in corporate history.
LJM was one of up to 900 offshore partnerships used in a legally questionable system to hide the debt which eventually caused Enron's downfall.
As well as the pending lawsuit from shareholders, Mr Baxter was also having to face criticism from former Enron workers who lost most of the value of their pensions in the collapse. They were also angry at the fortunes in share options that executives made.
PA