The Effects Of The Enron Scandal

Great Essays
Introduction
The Enron Scandal will forever live in its infamy. How can such a powerful company once ranking at number seven as one of the top ten companies in America cause its own demise? The answer lies in the fact that all great empires fall due to the greed of money and power by its conquerors. Who are willing to do anything to maintain the luxury of being the top in the world. Enron portrayed to be a profitable and unshakable company. However it later came to light that the majority of Enron's earnings were largely made of paper profit. The masters behind this scheme were traders and executives who executed expert accounting skills. Enron could no longer hide its deep debt when information of their actions surfaced. They had no choice
…show more content…
The CEO of Enron, Kenneth Lay helped weave the web of lies that Enron’s fake revenue was actually real. Chief Executive, Jeffrey K. Skilling, also partook in this scheme. Lay and Skilling were confronted by over a dozen counts of fraud and conspiracy through the trail of the Scandal. Both were the most famous characters in the scandal. However there was others who contributed to the fall of Enron by helping in falsifying the increase of Enron’s revenue, and concealing its debt.CFO, Andrew Fastow, was another mastermind and contributor of the fall of Enron. The New York Times, reported that “he raised huge amounts of capital that Enron needed as it moved beyond its roots in the natural gas business to blaze trails as an innovative energy powerhouse.” (The New York Times, 2006). Ben F. Glisan Jr. joined Enron in 1996. Working mainly on Enron’s account he contributed to the scandal by meticulously executing false accounting that concealed the losses of Enron. In 2006, after being indicted with more than 24 charges of conspiracy, Glisan only pleads guilty to only one count out of those charges . Mark E. Koenig, the director of investor relations of Enron of the time controlled and was in charge of the calls that were taking place between the company’s executives and Wall Street analysts. Koenig contributed and was aware about the attempts to deceive investors. He later pleads guilty to one count of aiding and abetting securities fraud during Enron’s scandal trial. Lou Lung Pai was in charge of numerous divisions of the company. Several months before Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Pai resigns and is not charged with any counts of fraud or conspiracy. Kenneth D. Rice and other executives according to the New York Times, “was accused of making misleading statements about the capabilities of the technology and the performance of their division, resulting in an artificial inflammation in the value of the

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    Enron Case Study

    • 1860 Words
    • 8 Pages

    This left the door open to unethical behavior, and this is where greed and dishonesty started to come into play. Skilling believed that human nature is steered by greed and competition; it is no wonder why this accounting standard was taken advantage of. Enron had gas operations all over the world that had cost billions to build, and most…

    • 1860 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What Is AIG Ethical?

    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Company AIG was a company that had risen to the top through unethical procedures and acts. The company became a big financial giant in the insurance industry and later added the subprime mortgages to its portfolio that increased its profits into the billions. The company cut corners by aggressively lobbying for laws and rulings that would go in their favor (Thorne, Ferrell, & Ferrell, 2011). They came under investigation by the SEC because they thought they were reporting profits wrong. Also, the company was giving unearned bonuses to upper management and promising investors, and stakeholder’s money that they weren’t paying.…

    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hisao Tanaka and half of his staff were placed to blame. None of them ended up behind bars, instead they all resigned and deeply apologized for their actions. Since the case has just recently been closed, the perpetrators have not been able to find new careers. The whistleblower in this case was the prior prosecutors that Toshiba hired to investigate their financials. They determined that the profits of Toshiba were overstated by over 1.2 billion dollars.…

    • 884 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The charges are what the government issues to begin the criminal process Martha Stewart and Peter Bacanov are faced with several charges in the original indictment. The charges include that of Conspiracy. This charge is filed by the government against both Martha Stewart and Bacanovic. The government alleges that both Stewart and Bacanovic willfully and knowingly worked together to make false statements in the stock-trading scandal. Stewart lied when she told the Securities and Exchange Commission, the FBI and federal prosecutors she had prearranged with Bacanovic to sell ImClone when it fell well below $60 per share.…

    • 1956 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Mr. Madoff performed one of the most significant fraudulent acts in the history of unethical actions. Mr. Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scam will go down in history as the top scheme in the world. The Ponzi scheme was made famous by Italian criminal Charles Ponzi. Charles Ponzi’s scheme included coupons, Madoff’s scheme dedicated funds presented by big-name investors. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme involved Mr. Madoff taking money from investors and investing it into his bank account instead of actual investments.…

    • 1062 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    He decided to come clean and accept the fraud he has committed. The Wall Street has collapsed due to the Ponzi scheme as it was the massive investment fraud which has affected many people including the high profile investors. And also the fraud scam has left more than 12,000 investors and many faking investment returns over the years. Madoff has taken in client assets and transferred it to his personal accounts. He mailed…

    • 1356 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    However, only two weeks after the takeover it was discovered that over $40 million of inventory were nowhere to be found, marking the beginning of the end of Crazy Eddie. In June 1989, following the takeover, the new owners of the company filed for Chapter 11 – Bankruptcy (Mock, 2004). In September 1989 the SEC commenced an enforcement action against Antar and others (SEC, 1997). Eventually the SEC and the FBI were able to identify fraudulent activities performed by the Antar family and its associates: • Falsifying the books and records of Crazy Eddie in order to make the company’s financial performance appear stronger that it actually was. • Falsely overstating inventory by approximately $2 million in 1985.…

    • 1769 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Enron Good Or Bad Essay

    • 928 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Enron was one of the biggest corporation in America. The rise, the downfall and the journey of Enron itself can be a big lesson for all the other corporate companies. Big successes usually come from some evil or do bring some evil with it. ‘The Smartest guys in the room’ the title itself clarifies the new and unique strategies brought forward by Enron. People in Enron felt so superior and drunk in the success that they stopped being human and lost humanity.…

    • 928 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    “Enron’s deadly sin was hubris, which lead people to believe they could handle the increasingly toxic risk without danger.” (Rosoff, 1998) The company was the face of the New Economy of the 21st century. “If a corporation whose recklessness and dishonesty has devastated thousands of innocent victims and hung a cloud of public distrust over American financial markets even deserves an epitaph, perhaps a fitting one can be paraphrased from The New York times: Enron was not much of a company, but it was one hell of a stock.” (Rosoff, 1998) Enron’s lethal consequences resulted in other new compliance measures. “Additionally, the Financial Accounting Standards Board substantially raised its levels of ethical conduct. Moreover company’s boards of directors became more independent, monitoring the audit companies and quickly replacing corrupt management.” (Investopedia,…

    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the early 2000’s, several companies were investigated following accounting scandals. These companies included Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs. According to Gary Giroux (2008), most of the scandals involved fraudulent earnings and/or fraud related to stock. It was because of these scandals that new legislation was created, with old legislation being revised. These scandals came as a result of lax regulations, and regulations that were not properly enforced.…

    • 1217 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays