People in the Enron scandal -- executives, auditor, and the board inquiry

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.