Ken Lay – Genius of Capitalism (2/4/2002)

For many years during the Bush era, Ken Lay and the collapse of Enron stood for the corruption endemic to the Bush administration and to the relationship between government and the energy industry. George W Bush was close to Ken Lay, CEO of Enron and one of the biggest supporters of Bush as governor of Texas and candidate for president in 2000. This support reaped dividends for Ken Lay and his company:

As Bush assumed the presidency, Enron had unusual access to the new administration’s deliberations about energy policy and appointments to important posts. Lay served on the Bush transition team and helped interview candidates for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees the gas pipelines and electricity grids that are key to Enron’s business. Earlier this year, the commission’s chairman, Curtis Hebert, who was being considered for reappointment by the White House, declared himself “offended” by Lay’s lobbying efforts. Hebert later quit the panel.

When Vice President Dick Cheney drafted a new energy policy, he met with Lay and other Enron executives. Enron was reportedly the only company to be granted such a meeting.

Enron’s close ties to bush – Abc news

Enron’s finances were founded on a house of cards. The company misreported revenue, deceiving shareholders and regulators, through a combination of “creative accounting”, plain old fraud, and an overly complex business model. Owning prominent politicians probably didn’t hurt. But in the end, the toadies couldn’t save Ken Lay and the company from bankruptcy and the anger of investors. Enron collapsed, taking down with them Arthur Anderson, the “venerable” accounting firm who helped them cook the books.

In 2004, a grand jury in Texas indicted Ken Lay his CEO Jeffrey Skilling and prosecutors charged them with securities fraud, wire fraud, and misleading statements on the company’s profits. They were found guilty in May 2006 and Ken Lay died a few weeks later before receiving his sentence. TIME Magazine ranked Ken and Jeff among the top ten crooked CEOs of all time. Super genius!