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Quick answers
When did Enron go bankrupt?
Enron filed for Chapter 11 protection on 2 December 2001 in the Southern District of New York bankruptcy court, after restatements, an SEC inquiry, and the collapse of a proposed Dynegy merger.
Who was convicted?
Jeffrey Skilling was convicted in 2006 in the Southern District of Texas. Andrew Fastow pleaded guilty in 2004. Kenneth Lay was convicted in 2006 but died before sentencing; that conviction was vacated. Other employees and bankers faced separate cases.
What happened to Arthur Andersen?
A Houston jury convicted Andersen in 2002 of obstruction of justice related to document destruction. The Supreme Court reversed the conviction in 2005, but the firm had already lost its public-company audit practice.
What is the Powers Report?
A February 2002 report by a special committee of Enron's board, chaired by William C. Powers Jr., describing the LJM partnerships, Raptor structures, and board oversight failures. It is a primary public narrative of the accounting.
How did Sarbanes-Oxley relate to Enron?
Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002 after Enron and related collapses, including WorldCom. The Act created the PCAOB, expanded auditor-independence rules, and required executive certification of filings.
What does mark-to-market mean in this case?
Enron booked estimated fair values of certain long-term contracts as current earnings. Courts and the Powers committee treated the abuse as lying in unsupported valuations and related-party hedges, not in the mere existence of fair-value accounting.
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.