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                      Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
                                        
I just finished watching the documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
[1] (a reference to what Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling were called by the traders
at Enron) based upon the book of the same name (Enron: The Smartest Guys in
the Room) [2]. 

The documentary made pretty clear what went on at Enron: they booked
projected (read: “made up”) future revenue (read: “haven't collected yet”)
the moment they closed the deal (read: “our stock just went up”) and they had
to keep moving, keep booking projects to maintain the fiction of their
company, which started out trading natural gas, then expanded into
electricity (most notably on the west coast) and even into Internet bandwidth
(which didn't go at all, but that still didn't stop them from booking
projected future revenues at the time). 

What I did not realize was the extent of the scandal. Not only was Enron and
Arthur Andersen [3] (who shredded anything dealing with Enron during the
investigation) but to major banks as well. Billions of dollars were floating
around lining everybody's pockets, except for those that atually invested in
Enron. 

It's guys like these that make me sad that debtor's prisons don't exist
anymore (and if ordered to make full restitution, you know that's where these
guys would end up). 

The movie itself was made in 2005, and since then [4], Lay and Skilling have
been found guilty of fraud and conspiracy. Now all that remains to be seen is
how much they have to give back, how much time they'll spend in Federal
prison and who they'll end up “marrying” while there. 

[1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0413845/
[2] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1591840538/conmanlaborat-20
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Andersen
[4] http://www.chron.com/enron/

Email author at sean@conman.org