"The company has been written down to zero,there's creditors' committee, they're no longer indistribution, and yet these people say it's soonto call the company a failure," said one source."That's like people at a funeral not acknowledgingthat the corpse is dead."

Sperling said Avenue's success or failuredepends on two more films it is producing. One isthe newly released and critically acclaimed ThePlayer, which Sperling said stands to generatesubstantial profit for the company.

Still, Sperling admitted, "I would say Avenuehas not executed as well as we hoped it wouldexecute. At this point, I don't know if we'll makeour five million back."

But sources have told The Crimson that Aeneasis considering a further major investment in anAvenue reorganized under Brokaw. The investmentmay be part of a deal between Avenue and 20thCentury Fox, the source said.

Sperling and Eisenson declined to comment onrumors of the deal, though they refused to ruleout the possibility. Fox Chief Operating OfficerStrauss Zelnick said there is no deal currently inthe works with Brokaw, though he said he said hemight be interested in such a deal in the future.Brokaw said he thinks a deal is unlikely, thoughhe said it is possible that Harvard may continueto invest in Avenue .

"There's no decision at this point about anyfurther investment in Avenue by Harvard," Brokawsaid.

But source close to HMC said that any furtherinvestment in Avenue would be a mistake.

"With the benefit of a full perspective of[Brokaw's] production activities, how they cancontemplate investing more money is befuddling, atbest," one source said.

While some companies, like Avenue, had theirvaluations completely wiped out in the 1991markdowns, others, like Texas-based Harken EnergyCorporation, are still valued significantly byAeneas, Harken, for one, has also been linked toallegedly shady business practices.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Aeneas'nearly $52 million investment in the oil and gasexploration firm was written down to just over $28million in 1991. Eisenson said that Aeneas hassold some of its stake in Harken, adding that themarket value of Harvard's current shares exceedstheir original cost. Still he noted, if Harkenstock drops in price, Aeneas could stand to losemoney on its investment.

Today, according o Harken President and ChiefExecutive Officer Mikel D. Faulkner, Harvard ownsapproximately 22 percent of the company's commonstock. Faulkner said that, while Aeneas does notcontrol Harken, Eisenson is extremely active onthe company's board, staying in almost dailycontract with Harken officials.

Eisenson acknowledged that Harken is aninvestment with make or break prospects in thenear future. The outcome, he said, depends largelyon exploratory drilling currently underway in thePersian Gulf, off the coast of Bahrain.

If Harken finds oil there, the money managersaid, the investment will have been a success. Ifit fails, he added, the investment will likely bedevalued.

According to Faulkner, the one well Harken hascompleted in the Gulf so far has come up dry.

In addition, according to US News & WorldReport, "Harken has been characterized by apattern of financial deal-making so burdened withdebt and tangled stock swaps that its largestcreditors threatened to shut the company down."