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Journalism of Courage
The Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned the conviction of one-time accounting giant Arthur Andersen for destroying Enron Corp-related documents because of flawed jury instructions.
In a defeat for the US Justice Department, the unanimous high court ruled that the jury instructions failed to convey properly the elements of what constitutes a conviction for corrupt persuasion. Andersen8217;s conviction resulted in the downfall of the company, which had been one of the 8220;Big Five8221; accounting firms. More than 28,000 US employees lost their jobs.
Andersen, which had been Enron8217;s longtime auditor, was convicted on a single count of corruptly persuading its employees to destroy documents in October and early November 2001, to keep them from federal investigators.
The shredding continued until Andersen received a subpoena from the SEC on November 8, 2001, for its records involving Enron. The company8217;s lawyers had argued that jurors should have been told that they needed to find the company had acted knowingly to subvert an investigation in order to be found guilty. 8212;Reuters
