Case Assignment: Enron Case 9
Yesenia Garcia
BUSI 472- B07 LUO

Introduction

In 1985 Ken Lay took over a couple of big name gas pipeline companies that came together and thus the infamous Enron Corporation began. They offered a variety of services that were not limited to natural gas but also included electricity, communications, and many energy related services. Together, CEO Jeffrey Skilling, Chairman Ken Lay, and CFO Andrew Fastow were able to bring transformation to Enron. They created a multi-billion dollar Wall Street celebrity out of an electricity and gas company. There was an unusual growth spurt in Enron’s profit of about $69 billion from 1998 to 2000. This caught the attention of an anonymous
Andersen could not have blamed their role in Enron’s scandal on ignorance because it was their job to be thorough and subjective in the manner in which they audited Enron. However, differing thoughts were exposed when it was suggested that Enron swindled Andersen and that Andersen could possible be found innocent due to the complexity of Enron’s financial accounts (Kelly & Earley, 2009). However, that argument could not be maintained due to the destruction of documents that were pertinent to Enron’s case.
Vinson & Elkins had Enron as one of their top business partners that made up a significant amount of their revenue. Attorneys had a major role in giving Enron permission to continue in their creative accounting ways that ultimately led to their downfall. A common defense and position that top managers took while in question was that they felt like what they were doing was not wrong because attorneys had told them that what they were doing was permissible. When Sherron Watkins brought this to attention, she was in danger of being let go. Watkins expresses that both Enron and Vinson & Elkins were aware of their violations of securities law principles in stating that, “One of the reasons given by Enron’s counsel for not firing me was that if I sued for wrongful dismissal, in the discovery process the