End in sight for Enron scandal as administration in Europe ends

The administration of failed energy giant Enron’s European operation has completed.

 

Accountancy firm PwC was appointed to oversee the winding up of the company’s assets in Europe, after the US-based group imploded 14 years ago.

 

The firm had employed 21,000 people before its collapse, and 1,400 of those worked in the group’s European headquarters in London, which oversaw assets such as the power station at Teesside.

 

Enron became synonymous with financial failure in 2001, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US in December of that year following a series of revelations of fraud and money laundering. 

 

The firm’s demise also led to criminal prosecutions, and former Enron chief executive Jeff Skilling is still serving a 14-year prison sentence after being convicted of fraud in 2006. Chairman Kenneth Lay was found guilty on fraud charges in 2006, but died that year.

 

Administration of Enron’s US operations is ongoing. The Enron scandal also dragged in Arthur Andersen, auditors to Enron at the time, although the Supreme Court overturned Andersen's criminal conviction in 2005.

 

Update: This article has been updated to clarify Arthur Andersen's involvement in the Enron scandal