Tom writes:

> >In that regard, it too might be a good time to sell your stock in Arthur
>  >Andersen, or any of the Big 5 accounting firms. The upper-level
management
>  >Arthur Andersen, despite their protestations, was more than implicitly
>  >complicit in Enron's stock manipulation schemes.
>  >
>
>  And that, I think, is one half of the real scandal here. The auditors
>  certified Enron's statements as reflecting the financial status of the
>  company when they did not.
>
>  The other half is the failure of the board of directors to do their jobs in
>  making sure that Enron was managed properly, and in protecting the
>  interests of the share holders.

Actually, I would only rate these failures only as secondary attributes,
symptoms that are merely syndromatic of the basic criminal and near-criminal
activity that lay at the core of Enron. Enron's business model was market
manipulation, plain and simple, a complex scam that depended heavily on the
cooperation of governmental agencies at every level: federal, state and city.

They bribed and cajoled their way over the last decade to obtain that
cooperation. The real sin here lies in the massive corruption associated with
"soft money" contributions to the political parties and the capacity of Enron
to get "government off of its back", government most especially in the form
of federal and state regulators.

Given that the basic business model of Enron was obviously foul from the
beginning, no one should be surprised in the secondary large-scale stock
transfers to the top-level management or the off-shore hiding of profits and
debts, nor the failure of the auditors to rein in these practices, especially
given that they seemed to be fully aware of what Enron was doing all along,
and may well have advised Enron in those efforts.

Wirt Atmar

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