1989
Enron begins trading natural gas commodities.
Dec. 2000
Enron announces president and chief operating officer Jeffrey Skilling will take over as chief executive from Kenneth Lay in February. Lay will remain as chairman. Stock hits 52-week high of $84.87.
Aug. 2001
Skilling resigns after six months; Lay named CEO again.
Oct. 16
Enron reports $638 million third-quarter loss and discloses $1.2 billion reduction in stock value, partly related to partnerships run by chief financial officer Andrew Fastow.
Oct. 22
Enron acknowledges Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry.
Oct. 24
Enron ousts Fastow.
Oct. 31
Enron announces SEC inquiry has been upgraded to a formal investigation.
Nov. 8
Enron revises financial statements for past five years to account for $586 million in losses.
Dec. 2
Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.";
EnronTimeline_060306[i++] = new Array("","2002","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
EnronTimeline_060306[i-1].body = "Jan. 9
Justice Department confirms it has begun a criminal investigation.
Jan. 23
Lay resigns as chairman and CEO.
Feb. 7
Fastow and former top aide Michael Kopper invoke the Fifth Amendment before Congress; Skilling testifies, saying he knew of no problems at Enron when he resigned.
March 14
Former Enron auditor Arthur Andersen LLP indicted for destroying Enron-related documents.
April 9
David Duncan, Andersen’s former top Enron auditor, pleads guilty to obstruction.
June 15
Andersen convicted of obstruction.
Aug. 21
Kopper pleads guilty to conspiracy, agrees to cooperate with investigators.
Oct. 16
Andersen sentenced to probation and fined $500,000; firm was already banned from auditing public companies and had only a few hundred employees left after its conviction.
Oct. 31
Fastow indicted on 78 charges of conspiracy, fraud, money laundering and other counts.";
EnronTimeline_060306[i++] = new Array("","2003","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
EnronTimeline_060306[i-1].body = "March 19
Enron announces plan to emerge from bankruptcy as two companies.
May 1
Andrew Fastow’s wife, Lea, and seven former executives charged. Lea Fastow accused of participating in some of husband’s deals.
July 11
Enron files reorganization plan that says most creditors will get about one-fifth of the $67 billion they are owed.
Sept. 10
Former Enron treasurer Ben Glisan Jr. pleads guilty to conspiracy, becomes first former Enron executive put behind bars.";
EnronTimeline_060306[i++] = new Array("","2004","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
EnronTimeline_060306[i-1].body = "Jan. 6
Enron’s roadmap for emerging from bankruptcy receives New York judge’s initial blessing and will be sent to creditors for approval.
Jan. 14
Andrew Fastow pleads guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud and agrees to cooperate with prosecutors. He faces 10 years in prison and will forfeit $23.8 million in assets. His wife, Lea, pleads guilty to one count of filing a false tax return.
Feb. 19
Skilling is charged with 42 counts of fraud and other crimes in an indictment alleging he misled government regulators and investors about the company’s financial condition. Skilling pleads not guilty and is released on $5 million bond.
April 7
Lea Fastow, the wife of former Enron finance chief Andrew Fastow, withdrew a plea greement after a federal judge balked at a sentencing deal that would have sent her to prison for five months and confined her at home for another five months.
May 6
Lea Fastow, former Enron assistant treasurer and wife of former financial chief Andrew Fastow, was sentenced to 12 months in jail after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of filing a false tax form.
July 8
Lay surrenders to FBI. Indictment unsealed, accusing him of participating in a conspiracy to manipulate Enron's quarterly financial results, making false and misleading public statements about the company's financial performance and omitting facts necessary to make financial statements accurate and fair. Lay pleads innocent.
July 15
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez confirms Enron's reorganization plan in which most creditors will receive about one-fifth of the the approximate $63 million they're owed in cash and stock.
July 30
Former Enron Broadband CEO Kenneth Rice pleads guilty to securities fraud, and forfeits $13.7 million in cash and property that includes jewelry and a pair of exotic sports cars.
Aug. 5
Former top Enron trader John Forney pleads guilty in San Francisco to manipulating energy prices during California's power crisis in 2000-2001.
Aug. 31
Former Enron Broadband chief operating officer Kevin Hannon pleads guilty to one count of conspiracy.
Sept. 20
Fraud and conspiracy trial of four former Merrill Lynch executives and two former mid-level Enron executives begins.
Oct. 7
Former Enron assistant treasurer Timothy Despain pleads guilty to conspiracy and agrees to cooperate with prosecutors.
Oct. 15
A British judge rules that three British bankers indicted in the United States on Enron-related fraud charges could be extradited to stand trial in Texas. They continue to fight the ruling.
Oct. 19
A federal judge grants Lay a trial separate from Skilling and Causey on charges of bank fraud and lying to banks about using loans to buy Enron stock on margin, but rules the trio will be tried together on other charges.
Nov. 3
Jurors convict four former Merrill Lynch & Co. executives, including former head of investment banking Daniel Bayly, and a former midlevel Enron Corp. finance executive of conspiracy and fraud in the barge case. A former in-house Enron accountant is acquitted.";
EnronTimeline_060306[i++] = new Array("","2005","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
EnronTimeline_060306[i-1].body = "Feb. 24
A federal judge schedules the Lay, Skilling and Causey trial for Jan. 17, 2006.
April 18
Enron broadband trial begins.
May 31
U.S. Supreme Court overturns former Andersen conviction, ruling unanimously that vague jury instructions allowed jurors to convict without finding criminal intent behind mass document destruction. The government said in November 2005 that prosecutors will not retry the firm, reduced to about 200 workers from 28,000 who mainly handle pending lawsuits.
July 15
Former Enron accounting executive Christopher Calger pleads guilty to conspiracy for participating in a scheme to recognize earnings prematurely and improperly.
July 20
Jury in Enron broadband trial acquits three of five defendants on some charges but deadlocks on most of the 164 counts. The five defendants will be retried on fewer counts in three separate trials in May, June and September of 2006.
Dec. 12
A judge approves David Duncan's withdrawal of his guilty plea.
Dec. 28
Causey pleads guilty to securities fraud and agrees to serve seven years in prison in exchange for cooperating with the government. U.S. District Judge Sim Lake reschedules the Lay/Skilling trial for Jan. 30.
";
EnronTimeline_060306[i++] = new Array("","2006","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
EnronTimeline_060306[i-1].body = "Jan. 31
Opening statements in the Lay/Skilling criminal trial begin in Houston.
May 25
Lay is convicted of all six counts against him, including conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud, and he is convicted in a separate bank fraud case.
Skilling is convicted on 19 of the 28 counts against him and acquitted on the remaining nine.
July 5
Lay dies of a heart attack.
Sept. 26
Fastow sentenced to 6 years in prison.
Oct. 23
Skilling sentenced to 24 years, four months in prison.
Nov. 15
Former accounting chief Richard Causeey sentenced to five-and-a-half-years on securities fraud.
Nov. 17
Two former executives are given reduced sentences for helping convict Lay and Skilling. Michael Kopper, top lieutenant to Fastow, recieved three years and one month. Mark Koenig, the company’s former investor relations chief, receives 18-months.";
// END editorial data