Is this a move to pressure Ken Lay into making a deal?

Federal prosecutors are investigating a stock sale by the wife of former Enron Corp. chairman Kenneth L. Lay just days before the Houston energy trader filed for bankruptcy protection in late 2001, according to lawyers involved in the probe.

At the center of the new inquiry is Linda P. Lay's sale of 500,000 Enron shares on behalf of the couple's family foundation on Nov. 28, 2001. The sales netted $1.2 million, which was used to cover pledges the foundation had made to local charities, said Michael Ramsey, the family's lawyer. He said prosecutors are examining whether Linda Lay traded on inside information -- namely, that Enron's merger with rival Dynegy Inc. was collapsing and that the company was about to declare bankruptcy and make its stock nearly worthless.