Enron

Acquired

Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

Venturecapital, Ma, Investing, Acquisitions, Startups, Vc, Investment, Business, Technology

4.8 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 29 November 2022

⏱️ 212 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The FTX fraud has dominated headlines now for weeks, during which we’ve debated if and how Acquired could uniquely add to the conversation. Then we realized there was an angle so perfect that we had to drop everything and enter Acquired research overdrive: Enron. Travel back with us to the granddaddy fraud of them all, 2001’s then-largest bankruptcy in US history and the impetus for the famous Sarbanes-Oxley Act. So much of Enron’s history parallels FTX that the uncanniness is almost unbelievable — right down to the same CEO running the two bankruptcies. Sit back and enjoy this crazy tale of villainy, greed, and the nature of humans and money. Maybe just don’t take notes on this one…

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‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Obviously the context is we're doing this episode because of FTX.
0:02.7	Right. It's a related party transaction, one could say.
0:05.4	It's like LJM.
0:07.0	It's like, you know, the Raptors.
0:08.6	You know what LJM stands for, right?
0:10.4	It's as kids and as wife, right?
0:11.8	Haha!
0:12.8	What a psychopath.
0:14.2	Can't possibly be fraud if it's named after my family.
0:18.1	I feel like this story is like American Psycho in Houston.
0:21.0	Yes. Oh my god, yes.
0:23.0	Who got the truth?
0:26.0	Is it you, is it you, is it you?
0:28.0	Is it you, is it you?
0:30.0	Is it you, is it you?
0:32.0	Is it you, is it you?
0:33.0	Sit me down, say it straight.
0:35.0	Another story on the way.
0:38.0	Who got the truth?
0:40.0	Welcome to season 11, episode seven of Acquired,
0:43.0	the podcast about great technology companies.
0:46.0	Well, sometimes not so great companies.
	...

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