
The Bankruptcy
Houston's Great Calamity
The Bankruptcy in Economic Context
The Bankruptcy in Social Context
What It Was Like to Be at Enron Just Before and During the Bankruptcy
What It Was Like to Be at Enron After the Bankruptcy
Congress Pounces
"How the Sausage Is Made In Congress…It's Really Ugly"
"It's Nothing More Than a Charade"
During the Congressional Hearings, Jeff Skilling Was Interrupted 72 Times
Guess Who Directs the C-Span Cameramen
What It Was Like to Testify Before Congress
President Bush Acts Fast
"There Is No Possession More Valuable Than a Good & Faithful Friend" - Socrates
Oval Office - "Clean This Mess Up Immediately."
President Bush's First Move - Deny the Relationship
President Bush's Second Move - Use the Department of Justice
President Bush's Third Move - Create the Corporate Responsibility/Enron Task Force
Deny + Indict = Re-Election
A Message to the Bush Family at Ken Lay's Memorial Service

The Enron Task Force - Its Formation & Purpose
The Enron Task Force - Its Formation & Purpose
Carte Blanche for the Enron Task Force's First Director - Leslie Caldwell
Meet the Enron Task Force Prosecutors
Observations About Their Mindset
Their Mafia Modus Operandi
"Beating Up the Witness" - A Description from Someone Who Saw Them in Action
Straight From the Horse's Mouth: An Enron Task Force Prosecutor's Own Words
How Do They Get Away With It? Prosecutors Have Been Cast By Congress Into the Role of "God"
U.S. Prosecutors Compared With U.K. Prosecutors
A Prosecutor's Goal: "A Ticket to Personal Wealth"
The Enron Task Force Prosecutors - Where They Are Now
Meet the Enron Task Force FBI Agents
Many a Truth Is Spoken in Jest
Were the FBI Agents on the Enron Task Force Qualified for the Complexity of the Enron Case? Just Asking...
Their Favorite Intimidation Tactics
The Enron Task Force's Strategic Decisions
Leslie's First Strategic Decision - Staff and Manage the Enron Cases as Mob/Organized Crime Cases
Leslie's Second Strategic Decision - Make the Enron Cases "Conspiracy" Cases
Leslie's Third Strategic Decision - Characterize the Bankruptcy as One of Solvency, Versus Liquidity
Leslie's Fourth Strategic Decision - Go for the Quick Kill
What It Was Like to Meet With the Enron Task Force

A Short and To-the-Point Overview
A Short and To-the-Point Overview
Civil Versus Criminal Law - The Differences May Surprise You
Scalpel Versus Axe
The Civil Lawyers Were Shocked & Palefaced
The Result - An Un-Level Playing Field - And No Referee
They Tried To - And Likely Did - Violate People's Constitutional Rights
Did They Listen to People's Phone Conversations? It Can't Be Proven, But Many Believe That Yes, They Did
They Gagged Defense Witnesses by (1) Using the Grand Jury as a Weapon and (2) Creating a Lethal "Secret" List
Grand Jury = Indictment Factory
What It Was Like to Appear Before the Enron Grand Jury
They Used the Grand Jury for an Illegitimate
Purpose: As a Weapon
The Secret List of "Unindicted Co-Conspirators"
The Result - No One Would Even Talk to the Defense
How the Gagging Tactic Worked in the Nigerian Barge Case
How the Gagging Tactic Crippled the Defense in the Lay/Skilling Case
How the Gagging Tactic Divided and Conquered - Even in the Midst of Tragedy
The Hero of the First Broadband Trial - Larry Ciscon
Hey David - We're Taking the Knife Away from Your Throat, But Remember that the Noose Is Still Around Your Neck
How the Gagging Tactic Played Out in the Lay/Skilling Trial - Well Enough, But the Jury Did Notice
Where Was Judge Lake?
"Unindicted Co-Conspirators" Was Not an Invention of the Enron Task Force - But They Took It to a New Level
They Abused Their Power to Indict People
Robert Jackson Saw It Coming
Hi Honey - What Three Crimes Did You Commit Today?
Mother Teresa's Crimes
The "Bad Faith" Prosecutions - AKA The Enron Prosecutions
And For Good Measure, They Made the Indictments Incomprehensible
"It Is Getting Increasingly Common to Get Indicted And Not Know What You Did Wrong"
Hid Financial Information From the Public? On the Contrary...
"Embedded Losses" Is a Term That Was Invented for This Indictment
And Then There Was Arthur Andersen
Leslie’s Fourth Strategic Decision – Go for the Quick Kill
They Kept Evidence That Was Favorable to the Defendants Away From the Defendants and Away From the Jury
Hiding the Good Stuff
Trick #1 - They Avoided Gathering Favorable Evidence - The Enron Task Force Never Talked to Ken Lay
Trick #1 - They Avoided Gathering Favorable Evidence - The Enron Task Force Never Talked to Jeff Skilling
Trick #1 - They Avoided Gathering Favorable Evidence - The Enron Task Force Never Talked to Jeff Skilling's Assistant
Trick #2 - When the Enron Task Force Did Talk With Someone, They Limited Their Ability to Speak - And Tried to Put Words In Their Mouths
Trick #3 - When Someone Did Say Something Favorable to the Defense, They Didn't Write It Down
Trick #4 - They "Lost" the Fastow Notes
Trick #5 - They Witheld Evidence Until It Was Too Late To Be Useful To the Defense
Trick #6 - They Permitted Destruction of Evidence That Would Have Helped the Defense
Trick #7 - They Claimed Exculpatory Evidence Didn’t Exist - When It Did and They Had It
Where Was the Judge?
They Poisoned the Jury Pool - And the Judge Refused to Administer Antidote
The Well-Orchestrated Media Campaign
An Example of How They Manipulated Press Releases
Humiliating Public Theater
The Jury Questionnaires
There Are Remedies For Poisoned Jury Pools
Remedy #1 - Change of Venue
Remedy #2 - Individual Questioning of Prospective Jurors
The Defense Begged - The Judge Said No
The Result - A Poisoned Jury & At Least One Juror Who Should Not Have Been Selected (The Forewoman)
A Short Story About Jury Consultants
How the Enron Task Force Got Around the Rule about Not Talking to the Media - Or Did They?
They Terrorized People Into Pleading & Flipping
Of Course the Prosecutors Got What They Wanted
Pleading Insanity
How Did We Get Such a Broken Plea Bargaining System? The Federal Sentencing Guidelines
How the Plea Bargain System Works
Truth is Perjury in Today's "Crude Conviction Machine"
Do You Think That You Would Never Plead Guilty to Something You Didn't Do? Consider...
Still Think That You Would Never Plead Guilty to Something You Didn't Do? How Much Money Do You Have?
In Legalese, It's Called "The Trial Penalty"
Only 4% of Americans Fight
The Enron Task Force Climbed the Ladder
Straight From the Enron Task Force Prosecutors' Mouths...
The "Dirty, Dark Secret of the Enron Trials"
The Torture & Psychology of Plea Bargains
How Plea Bargaining Played Out in the Lay/Skilling Trial
Examples of Enron Task Force "Flips"
The Day My Friend Mark Pled Guilty
Joannie's Story
The Enron Task Force's Biggest Coup: Rick Causey's Plea
Andy - Cooperate, Or We'll Indict Your Wife
Ben - Say What We Want You to Say, Or We'll Send You Back to Solitary Confinement
If Defense Attorneys Did What Prosecutors Do, They Would Be Indicted
Where Are the Judges? Willfully Blind...
But the Defense in the Lay/Skilling Trial Complained Loudly - Where Was Judge Lake?
Had the Enron Trials Been Held in the UK - A Barrister's Analysis
A Warning to UK Citizens - The UK Is Considering the Adoption of the US Plea Bargaining System
They Presented False Testimony & Manufactured Evidence
They Presented False Testimony & Manufactured Evidence
Examples of Perjured Testimony at the Lay/Skilling Trial
Joannie's Story
Why Did Judge Lake Prohibit Testimony About Witness Intimidation?
Example of Manufactured Evidence in the Lay/Skilling Trial: The Infamous "Global Galactic"
Where Was Judge Lake When the Prosecution Presented Manufactured Evidence?
A Short Story About Andy Fastow's Character
Why Wouldn't Judge Lake Let the Defense Show the Indictment to the Jury?
In the Lay/Skilling Trial, It Sure Looked as Though Judge Lake Was Helping the Prosecution Until the Bitter End
Judge Lake Kept the Jury from Seeing the Indictment Until They Went Back to Deliberate
Based on Judge Lake's Jury Instructions, Even You Would Have Been Found Guilty
Judge Lake's Gift to the Enron Task Force: The Willful Blindness Instruction
What is the "Willful Blindness" Instruction?
What's Dangerous about the Willful Blindness Instruction?
What Happened to "Mens Rea" (Intent)?
Jury Instructions
They Rewarded Their Cooperating Witnesses with Meager Sentences
They Rewarded Their Cooperating Witnesses with Meager Sentences
I Lost Money - Someone Must Pay

A Shameful Example of American "Journalism"
The "Relentless" and Lazy Press
They Were Message Hucksters, Pushing the Idea that Would "Sell"
The Media's Mantra - Good Versus Evil Corporate Executives - End of Story
They Elevated It to National Tragedy Status
The Media's Creation - A Vitriolic Lynch Mob - Americans at Their Ugliest
Did the Media Contribute to the Bankruptcy Itself? One Editor Takes Credit
And The Award for the Most Blatantly-Biased Newspaper Goes To...The Houston Chronicle
The Houston Chronicle's Coverage
The Chronicle Blogs Their Version of the Lay/Skilling Trial
The Houston Chronicle Even Called for Conviction While the Jury Was Deliberating
Bethany McLean's Role in the Enron Collapse & the Lay/Skilling Convictions
Meet Erin K. Rice, a Former Enron Employee In the Communications Group
Erin's Experiences with the Media After Enron's Bankruptcy
Erin Researches Bethany McLean
The Bethany McLean/Jim Chanos Connection
Jim Chanos' Bears in Hibernation
Erin & Her Co-Workers Feel the Bite of the Bears in Hibernation
After Bears in Hibernation, the Short Positions On Enron Tripled
Jim Chanos Gives Bethany McLean a "Lead"
Bethany McLean's "Due Diligence"
Bethany's Story: Is Enron Overpriced?
Another Example of Bethany McLean's "Due Diligence"
Bethany McLean Becomes the Oracle of Enron
Bethany McLean Writes Enron: Smartest Guys In the Room, Then Teams Up with Mark Cuban
The Playbook for the Prosecution
Bethany’s Reporting from the Trial - Objective? Or Improper? Decide for Yourself
Where is the Accountability?
What Happened on Smith Street
The Media's Contribution - Myth After Myth After Myth After Myth...
Myth: Enron Was a House of Cards
Myth: Enron Employees Could Not Trade Stock in Their 401(k)s, While Executives Could & Did
Meet Mikie Rath, Enron's Manager of Benefits
Enron Employees' Benefits Package
Enron's 401(k) Plan
Diversify, Diversify, Diversify
The Record Keepers - Who They Were & What They Did
Changing Record Keepers
The Infamous "Lock Down"
Communications to Employees
Pushing the Blackout Period
The Transition - Chronology of Events
After the Blackout Period...
Ted Koppel Starts the Myth
Congress Perpetuates the Myth
A Summary of Key Points
Myth: Enron Employees Lost All of the Money In Their Retirement Accounts
Myth Versus Reality
Meet Mary Joyce, Enron's Director of Benefits & Executive Compensation
Enron's Pension Plan Was Fully Funded
How the Pension Myth Began
The Hoax about the 401(k) Plan
Senator Wellstone Was Wrong
Enron's 401(k) Plan
Were Employees Forced to Invest in Enron Stock?
But Didn't the Executives Tell the Employees to Invest in Enron Stock?
After All Those Accusations - No Change
Myth: Enron Was Shredding Documents
Myth: Enron Executives Pumped & Dumped
Myth: Global Galactic Was the Prosecutors' "Smoking Gun"
Myth: Enron's Use of Mark-to-Market Accounting Was Improper
Myth: Enron Hid Debt

Why Should I Care What Happens to a Bunch of Enron Executives?
Why Should I Care What Happens to a Bunch of Enron Executives?
So, What Is the State of the American Justice System?
How Did We Get Here?
The Rudy-RICO Revolution
Your Tax Dollars at Work - We Went from 1,500 to 8,000 Federal Prosecutors
We Went from Clear Laws to Vague "Statutes"
But Come On, I'm Not Like the Enron Executives - What Do I Have to Fear?
But Come On, I'm Not Like the Enron Executives - What Do I Have to Fear?
So, How Do We Fix This?
Expose It, Talk About It, Write About It - And Challenge the Media to Report It
Challenge Congress to Make Laws Clear Again
Demand Changes to the System - Some Ideas
Demand Changes to the Plea Bargain System
If We Don't Fix It, What Are the Ramifications for Business in America?
So, What Should I Do If They Come After Me?
What Have We Learned - And What Lessons Have We Missed?
What My Experience Taught Me
What Lessons Did We Miss?
What Should Universities Be Teaching About Enron?
What If Enron's Bankruptcy Was Not a Product of Rampant Criminality? A Thoughtful Man Wonders What Lessons We May Have Missed
Was Enron a Hotbed of Criminality - Or a Canary In a Mineshaft?
Why This Corporate Economist Has Taken the Time to Study Enron's Bankruptcy
The Baffling Bankruptcy Becomes a Quest
What the Canary Tried to Tell Us
The First Thing to Understand: How Enron Was Structured & Made Money
So, What Happened? What Caused the Clouds to Gather?
What Did Enron's Credit Rating Have To Do With It?
What Lesson Did We Miss About Short Selling?
What Lesson Did We Miss About Material Adverse Change Clauses?
What Lesson Did We Miss About Ourselves?
Will Missing These Lessons Hurt the U.S.?