Enron - Some Got Away

            This former Enron employee is very happy to hear of the guilty verdicts against Kenny Boy Lay and Jeff Skilling. It is hard to describe the sense of betrayal I felt when the company began to collapse. The outrage only came later as details of the deceit and conflicts of interest began to emerge.

            I joined Enron very late in my career, but it was as if I had come home after a long time away and found something that I had been missing all along. We all had a sense of accomplishment, of being part of a team of smart dedicated, hardworking people. We put in long hours, not because we had to, but because we hated to stop in the afternoon. And it seemed that the company leaders knew and appreciated our hard work. They made us feel a part of this great company; Skilling met often with our engineering division, explaining financial results, thanking us en masse for our work.

            Yet with my elation comes disappointment. Yes, these two and a handful of their finance minions are going to jail, but there are many others who deserved some punishment. People like Rebecca Mark and Joe Sutton, both of whom made themselves very rich based upon dubious "achievements" in India, leaving behind allegations of bribery and huge losses to the shareholders. They took their tens of millions in bonuses based on illusory future profits and left before the truth caught up with them. They both sit, rich and happy, having gotten away with their theft. That they are not on trial has more to do with the lack of provable evidence than of innocence on their part. But Lay and Skilling, being "guilty" will take all the notariety and blame that these others so richly deserve. Who but us chickens will even know their names?