Arthur Andersen indicted for obstruction of justice in Enron scandal (BREAKING AT DRUDGE)

DRUDGEREPORT ^ | 3/14/2002

[TLBSHOW]

Arthur Andersen indicted for obstruction of justice in Enron scandal

NOTHING FOLLOWS YET

[My Favorite Headache]

How about Clinton being indicted along with Andersen. That would be a miracle.>>

This is not Disney World...

[RoseofTexas]

Exactly!! This only opens a can of worms!

[TLBSHOW]

andersen News Story Matches 1 - 20 of 337

[Southack]

"now someone explain how to put a partnership in jail after "it" is convicted!. wouldn't it make more sense to indict an individual or group of individuals? more nonsense from the federal government."

Indicting the company means that Andersen is now FORBIDDEN from performing the SEC audits of all public (read: Fortune 5000) American companies. It should also get Andersen tossed from its government auditing contracts (e.g. at the FBI).

Now we just have to see how much of its assets that Andersen can illegally transfer off-shore before the lawsuits and damages eradicate the company.

And of course, whether any of this impacts Andersen Consulting (aka Acenture) financially...

Andersen is dead. Frankly, it lived too long, anyway. It was corrupt for years.

[Grampa Dave]

Fox News predicated/indicated that this would happen this morning during their business blips.

Also, the second shoe will be dropping on AA probably this week. The SEC may say that AA is not capable of correctly handling audits of its clients! Clients are running away from AA faster than world class sprinters at the Olympics.

Watch the rats in the senate like LIEberman and Hollings drop Demron gate like a hot coal and run away from it.

The house will be investigating Double Crossing or Global Crossing very quickly! Of course CNBCNBCCBSCNNABCCSPAN will run away from covering this story. The NY and LA Slimes will cover Double Crossing and try to blame it on the repubies. The Washington Compost will lie about as it does in every story!

Will AA take the poison pill this month or will it last to Memorial Day?

[KC Burke]

Documents were shredded. The oveall managing partners of the entire LLC notified the government of that when they became aware that it had occurred in the offices of the Houston Partners of the LLC (the Engaging Partners / Partners in Charge).

It was alleged in their defense that the main office had sent a memo reminding the Houston Partner's office that the Document Retention Policy of AA called for (1) Work/Preliminary Documents be disposed of and (2) Final Documents and workpaper versions be retained and (3) if a legal inquiry was proceeding to preserve all documents that might be called for by law (my paraphrase). No the Main Office felt that such action showed their willingness to prevent destruction of evidence. The government contends (IMHO) that the Policy memo was a back-handed way of telling the branch office to "clean their house" of incriminating evidence.

The signifigance of the LLC being charged and not just a partner is that such would bar AA as a whole from conducting Audits needed for SEC filings -- i.e., puts them out of business absent an SEC waiver which stops only the Houston office. But you see, SEC wants to maintain a deep-pocket reservoir to go after for media results and doesn't want to let the whole company off the hook. Justice doesn't want to worry about the actual culprits cause that could shield the deep pockets/ big-trophy of the whold firm being charged so they name the entire firm first....more headlines.

Hell, the Enron CFO who perpetrated this whole shebang hasn't been charged....might as well put an arrogant ol' line Audit firm out of business....

I'm just a tad bitter about this whole thing though......after all we just spent 8 years with a criminal conspiracy in the executive being ignored by 80% of government and all of the media......but, hey, its a big-business, oil croney, Republican in office, doncha know.... gotta protect those 401k fools

[alrea]

Clinton being indicted

keep smoking

[antaresequity]

[antaresequity]

Exactly!! This only opens a can of worms!

This is gonna be good...they [congress] are gonna find out that the whole tapestry includes them....I wouldn't be surprised if this mess is shoveled out the back door like a big pile of stinking dog crap

[Grampa Dave]

If you plan to eat at the Arthur Andersen Flaming Restaurant, you had best come quick. Their speciality of the house, flambe books, may soon be history!

Thanks to Registered for sharing this slice of his talent with us!

[alrea]

after all we just spent 8 years with a criminal conspiracy in the executive being ignored by 80% of government and all of the media......but, hey, its a big-business, oil croney, Republican in office, doncha know.... gotta protect those 401k fools

message: Stealing is fine if you make sure you say you are liberal, a Democrat or in the legal profession.

[Clemenza]

(Nelson from The Simpsons voice): HA HA!!.

[Common Tator]

Anyone who buys the crap that Arthur Anderson's top brass didn't know about what was going on is nuts.

The fact is Enron was doing a giant scheme that could not ever work. The company started out as a stodgy but profitable oil and gas company. Then it started dealing in energy futures. They didn't call em futures, but Arthur Andersons management had to know that is what they were.

The futures business is at at best a 4 percent return business. It is legit and there is nothing wrong with those that go into it. What is wrong is when a futures company starts playing the futures. That is a prescription for going broke. But they guessed right for a while and for a while made big returns. They felt they had invented a new way to make money. But when the market fell they lost it as fast as they has made it. Like many before them they tried to cook the books until their "luck" changed.

Anderson was surely to be aware they were helping people cook books. An accounting firm that can't tell when people are cooking the books is negligent indeed.

Arthur anderson reminds me of the bank guard who was on duty when the bank was robbed. His excuse for not preventing the robbery, was he was taking his afternoon nap when the robbers showed up.

Arthur anderson's top people were in on the rip off, or they were taking nap when the books were a being kept.

[Clemenza]

Remember how in school some of us were taught that financial statements from the big firms were "as good as gold?"

[alrea]

"Andersen ... did knowingly, intentionally and corruptly persuade" employees to "alter, destroy, mutilate and conceal" documents, the indictment said.

Hillary Clinton should be sweating

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for posting this and clarifying what SEC's action would be if AA was indicted: Indicting the company means that Andersen is now FORBIDDEN from performing the SEC audits of all public (read: Fortune 5000) American companies. It should also get Andersen tossed from its government auditing contracts (e.g. at the FBI).

Do you feel that this is the end of AA?

[Southack]

Accounting firms should be forced to run live web cameras on every paper shredder that they own, filming the faces of every person who tries to shred documents (along with a date and time stamp).

[Grampa Dave]

Plus, making digital copies of everything before they are shredded, which are sent by satellite to a safe storage site!

[Common Tator]

Hell, the Enron CFO who perpetrated this whole shebang hasn't been charged....might as well put an arrogant ol' line Audit firm out of business....

If an accounting firm does not want to go to jail for being an accounting pimp, He had best not keep the books for the ho house.

I had a major accouting firm tell to me, I could do something I was not sure I could. I said, "If you are wrong, you are in a lot of trouble." Being an honest accountant he said ,"No when an accountant is wrong it is the client that is in a lot of trouble."

Perhaps Bush is putting the shoe on the right foot. If accountants are paid the big bucks, and sign off on stuff that turns out to be illegal, they should pay the price.

Anderson is history. It will be a very long time before another accounting firm pulls somthing this stupid or illegal in order to get a big hunk of short term money.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for all of your great indexing work.

There is so much coming down and bubbling out on so many critical subjects, we need great indexers like you, Shermy and Ernest at the Beach (I'm sure that I have omitted at least 100 good indexers) to help us keep track of all of this stuff.