The public Enron investigation is an after-the-fact reconstruction: bankruptcy examiners, a board committee, criminal grand juries, and the SEC.
This page records those official steps. It does not describe how to build off-balance-sheet vehicles or how to hide a loss.
Agencies
- U.S. Department of Justice — Led the Enron Task Force; obtained the Fastow plea and the 2006 Houston convictions of Lay and Skilling.
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission — Opened the 2001 inquiry, brought civil charges, and supplied the enforcement backdrop to Sarbanes-Oxley.
- Enron board special committee — Produced the February 2002 Powers Report that mapped LJM, Raptors, and board failures for the public docket.
- U.S. Congress — Held 2002 hearings that fed the Sarbanes-Oxley legislative record and put Watkins and Andersen partners on the record.
What followed
- SEC inquiry
After the October 2001 charge and press reports on related-party deals, the SEC opened a formal investigation.
- Bankruptcy examiners
Chapter 11 professionals preserved email and accounting systems and reported to the bankruptcy court.
- Powers committee
The board commissioned an independent review that published in February 2002 while criminal work was ongoing.
- Andersen prosecution
DOJ charged the auditor with obstruction related to document destruction; trial and conviction followed in 2002.
- Executive pleas and trial
Fastow's 2004 plea preceded the 2006 Lay-Skilling trial in Houston federal court.
- Legislative record
House and Senate hearings in 2002 produced the findings Congress cited when passing Sarbanes-Oxley.
Turning points
- The Watkins letter becomes public — Once Congress and the press had the August 2001 warning, the story was no longer only a sudden bankruptcy; it was an ignored-internal-alarm case.
- Powers Report published — The February 2002 report gave journalists and prosecutors a board-level map of the vehicles without waiting for a verdict.
- 2006 Houston verdicts — The jury's findings against Lay and Skilling closed the main criminal narrative, even though Lay's conviction was later vacated by death.
Investigators after October 2001 were explaining a collapse that had already happened. The policy answer was a statute, not a continuing manhunt.
Public-record encyclopedia. Not legal advice. Not a how-to. Graphic detail is withheld. Wars belong in a separate atlas.