changed the law to say we’re going to prohibit price gouging by these power pirates. came into office, had the guy busted, but even more, he says, “I’m not just going after the criminal. In 1930, all those companies called Edison were actually started by Sam, who was the Ken Lay of his time, watered the stock, played games with the books, overcharged customers. See, the last Ken Lay - and this is important to understand - was a guy named Sam Insull. You had the law firm Vinson & Elkins, you had Arthur Andersen, you had a whole crew of characters who got off scot-free here.Īnd what’s even worse is that the game continues. It was clearly political prosecution to say “We’re going to go after the guys who went after Enron,” and yet you heard the list.
I mean, basically the co-conspirators, the rest of the mob, was breaking out champagne yesterday, because they said, “We’re off the hook.” This should have been the beginning of new indictments, and like I say, the only new indictment are the guys that went after Enron, the law firm that sued Enron for its shenanigans. Greg, this is the point you were making about it being larger than Enron. Our guests are Robert Bryce, Pipe Dreams, and Greg Palast, Armed Madhouse. It was produced and directed by Alex Gibney. What about Vinson & Elkins, the lawyers that represented us? There had to have been complicity across the board, because it was all too easy.ĪMY GOODMAN: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, an excerpt. If you think of the banks involved - Chase, Morgan, Citibank - the billions in loans, Arthur Andersen. MAX EBERTS: I’ve thought about this and thought about this, and it couldn’t have just been a few executives at Enron that made this happen. You know, he’s the one that stole from Enron, stole from LJM> He’s the one that cooked the books. All of the Enron executives were saying, “There’s your man, Andy Fastow. SHERRON WATKINS: Andy, in many ways, I think he was set up as the fall guy. Chairman, on the advice of my counsel, I respectfully decline to answer the questions, based on the protection afforded me under the United States Constitution. Fastow, is how could you believe that your actions were in any way consistent with your fiduciary duties to Enron and its shareholders or with common sense notions of corporate ethics and propriety? How do you answer, sir?ĪNDREW FASTOW: Mr. NARRATOR: The next day, Andy Fastow was fired, when the Enron board discovered that he had made more than $45 million from his LJM partnerships. I and the board are also sure that Andy has operated in the most ethical and appropriate manner possible. KEN LAY: I know this is a lot - there’s a lot of speculation about Andy’s involvement. It wasn’t really clear what was going on or what was going to happen. UNIDENTIFIED MAN 1: It certainly wasn’t clear to anyone at Enron, much less anyone outside of Enron. If not, you may want to start, because it’s going to be a long time before we trust you again.” “I would like to know if you are on crack. All right, we’re down to questions, and I’ve got a few up here. KEN LAY: From the standpoint of Enron stock, we’re going to bring it back. SHERRON WATKINS: He was making all kinds of statements, reassuring employees, and not just employees, reassuring investors we have no accounting irregularities, the company is in the best shape it’s ever been in. KEN LAY: Despite the rumors, despite the speculation, the company is doing well, both financially and operationally. On October 23, Andersen shredded more than one ton of paper. NARRATOR: At the very moment Ken Lay was talking to employees, only a few blocks away, Enron’s accounting firm, Arthur Andersen, had begun destroying its Enron files. This inquiry will take a lot of time on the part of our accountants and lawyers and others, but it will finally put these issues to rest.
But regrettably, that’s not what Wall Street is focusing on, and I doubt that’s what you’re focusing on. KEN LAY: As you can, of course, see the underlying fundamentals of our businesses are very strong, indeed the strongest they’ve ever been. The date was October 22, 2001, a week after the Securities and Exchange Commission sent a letter to Enron asking for information on the company’s third quarter losses.
Enron the smartest guys in the room script full#
In this excerpt, Enron founder Ken Lay talks about the state of Enron to a room full of Enron employees. It’s based on the book by the same name by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind. AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn now to an excerpt of the documentary, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.
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