Enron - The Smartest Guys in the Room (51 of 51)

Enron - The Smartest Guys in the Room

In 2004, Jeff Skilling was indicted for insider trading and conspiracy to defraud investors.
Pleading innocent, he paid his attorneys a retainer of 23 million dollars to defend him.
Enron should not be viewed as an aberration, something that can't happen anywhere else.
Because it's all about the rationalization that you're not doing anything wrong.
We've involved Arthur Andersen, we've involved the lawyers.
The bankers know what we're doing.
There's a sense the diffusion of responsibility.
Everyone was on the bandwagon.
And it can happen again.
Enron's accounting firm.

Arthur Andersen, was convicted of obstructing justice.
With its reputation for honesty destroyed, America's oldest accounting firm fell along with Enron and twenty nine thousand people lost their jobs.
Enron's shareholders are suing Enron and its banks for 20 billion dollars.
Ken Lay was also indicted for conspiracy to commit fraud.
His attorney maintains that no one has been hurt more by the Enron bankruptcy than Ken Lay.
Nice of all of you to show up this morning.
With today's arrest of Ken Lay, the top echelon at Enron has now been called to account for their crimes.
Mr.Lay, do you have anything to say, sir?
A little later today I will.
Looking at Enron is like looking at the flip side of so much possibility because like most things that end terribly, it didn't start out that way.
It started with a lot of people who thought they were changing the world.
And over time they became victims of their own hubris, victims of their own greed and so it's like taking so much promise and possibility and looking at it in a mirror and seeing the flip side reflected back at you.
I think the larger lesson was what Enron asked of its employees which was ask why.
And you know I didn't ask myself why enough; I didn't ask managers why enough, I didn't ask my colleagues why enough.