Mike Levin: “5 years ago, the Enron Corporation, the seventh largest publicly traded corporation in America with a $100 billion in…”

“5 years ago, the Enron Corporation, the seventh largest publicly traded corporation in America with a $100 billion in annual revenue, collapsed. Its sudden plunge into bankruptcy destroyed the savings of thousands, eliminated the jobs of tens of thousands more, and, more fundamentally, damaged Americans' faith in U.S. capital markets. In the years following, the extent of Enron's misconduct became clear--the dishonest accounting, nonpayment of taxes, excessive executive compensation, collusion with banks and brokers, the lies to the investing public and their own employees. Many Enron executives have since pleaded guilty and accepted responsibility for their role in the Enron disaster. Enron's two most senior executives, however, did not. They spent the last 5 years denying responsibility and fighting all efforts to hold them accountable. But yesterday, a jury found Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling guilty of 25 counts of securities fraud, wire fraud, false statements, and other misconduct. The jury held both men accountable for Enron's misdeeds. Some want to portray those convictions as the end of an era of corporate corruption. They are already urging Congress to weaken the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the law enacted to prevent future Enron catastrophes. For example, they want to exempt 80 percent the publicly traded companies from rules requiring internal controls to ensure that their books accurately reflect their finances.…”