Enron, Ep 5: The Enablers

Bad Bets

The Wall Street Journal

News, Business, True Crime

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 November 2021

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After Enron's collapse, a congressional probe and a Department of Justice task force began investigating not just company executives - but also the auditors and banks that had enabled the company's business practices. In this episode, the groups that facilitated Enron's rise. John Emshwiller hosts. The original reporting on which this season is based was done by him, Rebecca Smith and other reporters in the WSJ newsroom. Bad Bets is a production of The Wall Street Journal. This season was produced in collaboration with Neon Hum Media.Correction: Senator Byron Dorgan represented North Dakota. A previous version of this podcast incorrectly said that he represented South Dakota. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Bad Bets, a podcast from the Wall Street Journal that unravels big
0:06.0	business dramas that have had a big impact on our world.
0:09.8	This first season chronicles the collapse of Enron.
0:12.8	I'm John M. Schweiler.
0:15.4	The moment Enron went bust, was nowhere near the end of its story.
0:19.7	The public outrage around Enron has started to build even before the company filed for bankruptcy.
0:25.6	Afterwards, it exploded.
0:28.0	Congress and federal criminal investigators were pressing to find out who was accountable
0:32.5	from company officials to the institutions that enabled their dealings.
0:38.0	Stay with us.
0:40.4	With dedicated bankers for healthcare, a wide range of experience across specialties and product
0:45.9	solutions for payment management, KeyBank is invested in the success of their clients'
0:50.9	businesses.
0:51.9	Learn more at key.com slash healthcare.
0:57.7	Up to this point, we've mostly told you that until its bankruptcy in December 2001,
1:03.2	Enron had lots of admirers.
1:05.2	But even before Enron collapsed, there were public officials in one corner of the country,
1:09.7	who believed company executives were, well, crooks.
1:15.5	Everyone loved to say how great Enron was, and they shared out to be a toll and complete
1:20.0	con.
1:21.0	That's former California Governor Gray Davis.
1:24.0	He's not just talking about Enron's alleged accounting frauds.
	...

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