BUS 115: Business Law

ENRON Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Huston, Texas. During 2000 Enron claimed  revenues of nearly $101 billion. At the time, Fortune Magazine had named Enron "America's Most Innovative Company" for  six consecutive years.

ENRON painted a rosy picture of strong profits and a healthy business. But as the facts began to tumble out, in the fall of 2001,  the company swiftly collapsed, taking with it the fortunes and retirement savings of thousands of employees.

At the end of 2001, it was revealed that ENRON'S reported financial condition was sustained by creatively planned accounting fraud. ENRON has since become a well-known example of willful corporate fraud and corruption. The scandal also brought into question the accounting practices and activities of many corporations in the United States and was a factor in the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, raising the bar for accounting and financial regulations.

The company's downfall was due to the unethical business practices of not one but many key players. While the CEO and CFO are probably the best known of the Enron characters, there were many others who played supporting roles. Some have admitted to helping artificially increase profits and hide losses and debts. Others blew the whistle on the deceptions. Listed below are some key participates but not the only ones.

• Kenneth Lay
• Jeffrey Skilling
• Andrew S. Fastow
• Ben F. Glisan Jr.
• Rick Causey
• Sherron S. Watkins