The deal, engineered by Mr. Brabeck, has positioned Nestlé to become the largest global pet food maker.

The public corporation he was referring to is the Tribune Company, which last week put the team up for sale as part of an $8.2 billion transaction in which it would go private in a deal engineered with the billionaire Samuel Zell.

If deals engineered by the most prominent leveraged buyout firm come unglued, it could tip the balance in favor of greater regulation.

Similar conflict of interest concerns have been raised about the 2005 deal engineered by Prichard by which Torstar acquired a 20 per cent stake in broadcaster and rival publisher Bell Globemedia Inc.

First Union, the sixth-biggest bank in the country, bought the Money Store for $2.1 billion two years ago in one of the last big purchases in a long string of deals engineered by its former chief executive, Edward Crutchfield.

The fake deals, typically engineered using official-looking stationery from the Central Bank or the National Petroleum Corporation, have come to be known here as "419 scams," after the section in the criminal code that deals with fraud.

Governor Cuomo was active in the state takeover of the unused plant Lilco was disbanded in 1998, in a deal engineered by Governor Pataki.

The state attorney general has called the deal, engineered by aides and allies of the governor, an illegal loan.

SEN began in late January 2004 in a deal engineered by former 5AA General Manager, Danny Staffieri, leasing the 3AK frequency from Pacific Star Network Limited.

The next two seasons saw a great deal of turnover, engineered by Imlach, who detested the new Players' Association headed by Maple Leaf players.