Three Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER) bankers are facing the Enron music today, and no one wants to be caught without a chair. The unhappy fellows -- Daniel Bayly, Robert Furst, and James Brown -- are facing conspiracy charges for their role in the infamous Enron barge deal, wherein Merrill bought three worthless barges parked off the coast of Nigeria from Enron and then sold them back within six weeks.

If that sounds kind of like a loan to you, well, you're not alone. The three basically helped Enron make loan proceeds look like revenue, which it would appear was the defunct company's preferred method of making money. (And I mean "making" in the sense that they whipped it out of thin air).

Merrill Lynch the company has little to fear at this point, not after forking over $80 million in March to settle charges levied against it by the SEC as a result of the barge transaction and another shady Enron deal.

Indeed, most of the companies involved in questionable Enron transactions are out of the hot seat, as the hunt moves to the individual employees who constructed the deals. (I recently wrote of the fact that Citibank (NYSE:C) and J.P. Morgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) managed to settle their charges for about $300 million.)

It's too bad these three individuals didn't think to loot some of the money for themselves. If they had deeper pockets, perhaps they could just "settle" their charges as well.