BusinessEnron Horosc...

Related Articles

BusinessEnron Biography

American corporation based in Houston, Texas. Enron was ranked by Fortune as the seventh largest company in the U.S. in 2001. As recently as November 2001, it was considered a stable risk for investors. Nonetheless, there was an undercurrent of rumors that its touted stability was not entirely credible. On 12/02/2001, Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York State, the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history (In the NY Times on 2/9 in the article it stated that Enrons bankruptcy was filed on 12/2/01 4:28am online with the Federal Bankruptcy Court in NY.) The debacle could possibly lead as high as the White House: Enron and its employees contributed more than $500,000 to the Bush campaign as part of a total $6 million over the past 12 years. The White House apparently added a last-minute provision to the Bush administration’s energy policy early in 2001 that was helpful to Enron. Vice-President Dick Cheney or his aides met with Enron rep’s six times on energy issues in 2001. Stock prices that were as high as $90 a share in August 2000, fell to about 60 cents by the end of December. Billions of stockholder equity evaporated and many people lost their entire life savings and retirement security. Major shareholders and officers had been quietly selling off millions of dollars of stock for as long as the prior six months. The ensuing shareholder lawsuit named 29 former and current Enron executives as defendants, charging that they made $1.1 BILLION by selling Enron stock between October 1998 and November 2001. On 8/14/2001, employee Sherron Watkins wrote a seven-page memo to her boss, Enron chairman Kenneth Lay, that included the statement, "I am incredibly nervous that we will implode in a wave of accounting scandals." Her memo became a smoking gun in the investigation of alleged financial chicanery at Enron and its accounting firm, Arthur Anderson. Both companies have been found to shred documents even after Congress opened what can become a criminal investigation. The scandal deepened on 1/25/2002 when the body of J. Clifford Baxter was found, shot to death in his parked Mercedes not far from his home in an exclusive Houston suburb. The former vice chairman of Enron had been shot in the head and a suicide note was found. Baxter had resigned several months before Enron’s collapse, while selling stock worth $35.2 million. V.P. Clifford Baxter was born 9/27/1958, Amityville, NY. Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay was born 4/15/1942, Tyrone, MO. CEO Jeffrey Skilling resigned in August 2001. Skilling was born 11/25/1953, Pittsburgh, PA (Dates contributed by Jane Drury, Chandelaine and Paul Hewitt.) The new head for the company, Stephen F. Cooper, was born 10/23/1946. (Email letter to Bush: "The list of Enron people on your payroll is impressive. Lawrence Lindsey, your chief economic advisor? A former advisor at Enron. Treasury Secretary Paul ONeill? Former CEO of Alcoa, whose lobbying firm, Vinson and Elkins, was the #3 contributor to the your campaign. Who is Vinson and Elkins? The law firm representing Enron. Who is Alcoa? The top polluter in Texas. Timothy White, the Secretary of the Army? A former vice-chair of Enron Energy. Robert Zoellick, your Federal Trade Rep? A former advisor at Enron. Karl Rove, your main man at the White House? He owned a quarter-million dollars of Enron stock. >Then theres the Enron lawyer you have nominated to be a federal judge in Texas, the Enron lobbyist who is your chair of the Republican PRead less