>> CAN’T BELIEVE IT, FEELS LIKE YESTERDAY, BUT TWO DECADES AS IS
YESTERDAY, BUT TWO DECADES AS IS
A LONG TIME SPEAK YOUR DECEMBER
, 2001, THE DAY AND ENRON DECLARED BANKRUPTCY, BRING IN
DECLARED BANKRUPTCY, BRING IN
THE ENERGY COMPANIES A EPIC
SCANDAL OUT OF THE DARK AND INTO
THE LIGHT.
>> IT RUINED LIVES, LED TO TWO
DOZEN CANDID FUNCTIONS AND
RESULTED IN SWEEPING GOVERNMENT
REFORMS. AND CORPORATE COLLAPSE
A CORPORATE COLLAPSE THAT ROCKED
HOUSTON.
>> JOEL JULY’S MBOM COVER THE TRIALS AND NOW TONIGHT, 20 YEARS
TRIALS AND NOW TONIGHT, 20 YEARS
LATER, WE HAVE SPECIAL REPORTS
LIVE FROM THE OLD AND RUN
BUILDING IN ENRON BUILDING IN
DOWNTOWN HOUSTON. ROBERT AND
JOEL.
>> CHRIS, I WOULD SAY OVER THE YEARS ROBERT AND I HAVE
YEARS ROBERT AND I HAVE
DEFINITELY COVERED OUR FAIR
SHARE OF ENRON STORIES AND WHAT
WE TRY TO NEVER FORGET ARE THE
PEOPLE INVOLVED. SPEAKING OF
WHICH, YOU JUST TALK TO ONE OF THE KEY PLAYERS.
THE KEY PLAYERS.
>> SHARON WATKINS, VICE VICE
PRESIDENT OF ENRON WHO TRIED TO
WARN CEO KEN LAY OF THE
COMPANY’S FINANCIALS BEING
MANIPULATED. AT FIRST HER CONCERNS WERE DISMISSED THEN
CONCERNS WERE DISMISSED THEN
SPECIAL INVESTIGATORS FOUND HER
WORK.
>> MY BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
WAS THAT I WAS REALLY NOT
BELIEVED. >> IN 2001, SHARON WATKINS SAID
>> IN 2001, SHARON WATKINS SAID
SHE FELT LIKE THE GREEK PARABLE
OF CASSANDRA, CHRIS WITH KNOWING
THE FUTURE BUT NO ONE FOR
LEAVING HER PREDICTIONS.
>> NO ONE BELIEVE ME IN THE FALL OF 2001, THEY JUST ACTED AS
FALL OF 2001, THEY JUST ACTED AS
IF THIS WAS A MINOR HICCUP IN
THE ROAD AND COULD BE HANDLED
WITH SOME GOOD PR.
>> WATKINS REMEMBERS THE MEETING SHE HAD ENRON FOUNDER
MEETING SHE HAD ENRON FOUNDER
KEN LAY BECAUSE SHE HAD
DISCOVERED THE ACCOUNTING
MANIPULATIONS FOR HEIDI MASSIVE
DEBT WERE OVER INFLATING HOW
MUCH MONEY THE COMPANY WAS
ACTUALLY MAKING. >> I DID COME ARMED WITH A WAD
>> I DID COME ARMED WITH A WAD
OF MEMOS AND EVIDENCE, EXCEL
SPREADSHEETS, POWERPOINT’S.
>> WATKINS REMEMBER THINKING
LEIGH WAS TAKING HER SERIOUSLY THEN HE ASKED HER WHETHER HE
THEN HE ASKED HER WHETHER HE
THOUGHT CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
WAS DOING A GOOD JOB.
>> I WAS DUMBFOUNDED. I JUST
SAT HERE AND TOLD YOU HOW THE
CHIEF ACCOUNTING OFFICER AND CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER HAVE
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER HAVE
COOKED TO THE BOOKS. YOU CAN’T
CONCLUDE CAN CONCLUDE THEY ARE
DOING A GOOD JOB.
>> WATKINS BELIEVING LEIGH WAS
UNAWARE OF THE UNETHICAL PRACTICES BY CRACKING DOWN THE
PRACTICES BY CRACKING DOWN THE
BAD APPLES IN MAKING AND
SUBMISSION TO INVESTORS.
>> I SHOULDN’T HAVE GONE BY
MYSELF. I SHOULD HAVE GOT MORE PEOPLE TO GO WITH ME, BECAUSE
PEOPLE TO GO WITH ME, BECAUSE
KEN LAY DISMISSED ME AS ONE LONE
VOICE, LOAN OPINION.
>> AND JUST AS WATKINS WAS
FEELING THE STING OF BEING A
WHISTLEBLOWER, ENRON COLLAPSE. FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS AND
FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS AND
CONGRESS FOUND ALL OF THE WORK
SHE HAD PRESENTED TO KEN LAY.
WATKINS BECAME ONE OF THE MAIN
WITNESSES IN AN INVESTIGATION
THAT LED TO DOZENS OF CONVICTIONS AND THE MASSIVE
CONVICTIONS AND THE MASSIVE
CHANGES IN HOW CORPORATIONS ARE
ALLOWED TO DO BUSINESS.
>> CAN’T BELIEVE IT, FEELS LIKE
YESTERDAY. TWO DECADES IS A LONG
TIME. >> IN 2002, WATKINS WAS NAMED
>> IN 2002, WATKINS WAS NAMED
ONE OF TIMES MAGAZINE’S PERSON
OF THE YEAR AND SHE CO-AUTHORED
POWER FAILURE, THE INSIDE STORY
OF THE COLLAPSE OF ENRON. BUT
THERE WAS A COST BECAUSE SHE LOST FRIENDSHIPS AND THE
LOST FRIENDSHIPS AND THE
TRAJECTORY OF HER CAREER WAS
FOREVER ALTERED.
>> THEY VIEW ME AS THE PERSON
THAT BLEW EVERYTHING UP, WHEN
I’M NOT THE ONE THAT COOKED OF
THE BOOKS OR ALLOWED THE BOOKS TO BE COOKED.
TO BE COOKED.
>> WATKINS CONSIDERS HERSELF
LUCKY BECAUSE SHE TEACHES
BUSINESS AND I THINK THAT TEXAS
STATE UNIVERSITY AND CORPORATE
LEADERSHIP AT NORTH CAROLINA
UNIVERSITY. >> ENRON COMES UP OFTEN.
>> ENRON COMES UP OFTEN.
>> SHE’S TRAVELED THE WORLD,
SPEAKING OUT ON CORPORATE
MALFEASANCE.
>> THE REALITY IS FRAUD STARTS SMALL. TO STOP THEM AT THEIR
SMALL. TO STOP THEM AT THEIR
INCEPTION IS WONDERFUL.
>> THE IMAGES I WILL NEVER
FORGET IN 20 YEARS AGO IS ALL
THE PEOPLE WHO CAME POURING OUT
OF THESE BUILDINGS AFTER FINDING OUT THEY HAD LOST THEIR JOBS AND
OUT THEY HAD LOST THEIR JOBS AND
IN MANY CASES WHERE
LIFE-SAVING.
>> IT WAS CATASTROPHIC FOR TENS
OF THOUSANDS OF ENRON EMPLOYEES,
NOT JUST THEM, IT’S IN THEIR
ENTIRE FAMILIES INTO TAILSPIN’S.
20 YEARS LATER, A LOT OF PEOPLE
HAVE TURNED IT AROUND.
>> TO DO THIS TO THE EMPLOYEES
WHO WERE SO LOYAL AND DEDICATED,
THIS IS WHAT WE GET BACK FOR REPAYMENT.
>> TWENTY YEARS AFTER WHAT WAS
AT THE TIME THE LARGEST
CORPORATE BANKRUPTCY IN US
HISTORY, ENRON’S CAUTIONARY TALE
OF COLLAPSE IS NOW WELL WORN.
>> AT SOME POINT, THE HEAD OF
THIS COMPANY NEW THAT IT WAS
CRATERING. >> BEFORE THE WORLD CUMBERED
>> BEFORE THE WORLD CUMBERED
FOR 20,000 HOUSTONIANS AND THEIR
FAMILIES, THERE WERE GOOD TIMES.
TO BE A PART OF THE ENRON
JUGGERNAUT WAS A BADGE OF HONOR, ESPECIALLY AS A KID STRAIGHT OUT
ESPECIALLY AS A KID STRAIGHT OUT
OF RICE STREET YOU YOU. THE
POSITIVES AND THAT’S WHAT I
CHOOSE TO DO. I CHOOSE TO LOOK
AT MY ENRON EXPERIENCE AS A
POSITIVE EXPERIENCE IN TERMS OF THE PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL
THE PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL
EXPERIENCE I HAD.
>> HE WERE A LOT OF HATS OVER
SEVEN YEARS LANDED ON HIS FEET.
HE OWNS A RETAIL ENERGY SERVICE PROVIDER BASED IN HOUSTON, BUT
PROVIDER BASED IN HOUSTON, BUT
NOT EVERYBODY FARED AS WELL.
>> WHEN I SELL THE STOCK DROP,
I CALLED HIS CELL AND WAS TOLD I
WAS LOCKED OUT. >> WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE TOP
>> WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE TOP
DOGS, I COVER THE TRIAL, YOU
LOOK AT THOSE GUYS NOW AND SAY
THEY WERE CRIMINALS? >> MOST WOULD SAY THERE WAS
>> MOST WOULD SAY THERE WAS
WHAT OCCURRED AND THERE WAS ALSO
THE FIRST-HAND EXPERIENCES WE
MIGHT HAVE HAD IT WITH EACH ONE
OF THOSE EXECUTIVES.
>> CAN RAKE UP, AND ONCE FOUND
UP AND RUNS FOUNDER, WAS CONVICTED OF MULTIPLE FRAUD
CONVICTED OF MULTIPLE FRAUD
CHARGES BUT THEN DIED IN
JULY 2006 BEFORE SENTENCING.
JEFF SKILLING, THE FORMER CEO
CONSERVE THE MOST TIME, MORE THAN A DECADE IN PRISON AND THEN
THAN A DECADE IN PRISON AND THEN
A HALFWAY HOUSE BEFORE BEING
POLICED IN 2020. AND A FAST
SALE, ENRON’S FORMER CFO, GOT OUT OF PRISON IN 2011. CORPORATE
OUT OF PRISON IN 2011. CORPORATE
FINANCE LAWS IN OUR COUNTRY
CHANGED BECAUSE OF ENRON.
ENRON’S BANKRUPTCY WAS A
WATERSHED MOMENT IN US CORPORATE HISTORY, AND ALL OF IT HAPPENED
HISTORY, AND ALL OF IT HAPPENED
RIGHT HERE.
>> I CAN ONLY LOOK AT THINGS
FROM THE STANDPOINT OF MY
PERSONAL SITUATION AS WELL AS THE SITUATION OF THOSE I STAY IN
THE SITUATION OF THOSE I STAY IN
TOUCH WITH. FOR US, WE HAVE
CHOSEN TO REMEMBER THE GOOD
TIMES.
>> YOU IF YOU ARE WORKING FOR
ENRON WHEN IT COLLAPSED, THAT
WAS NO DOUBT A PIVOTAL MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE. SO EVERY YEAR,
YOUR LIFE. SO EVERY YEAR,
INCLUDING TONIGHT, A LOT OF
FORMER ENRON EMPLOYEES GET
TOGETHER. THEY FIND IT
THERAPEUTIC.
>> I KNOW FOR A LOT OF PEOPLE
IT’S BEEN 20 YEARS, IT’S NEVER REALLY GONE AWAY.