Enron: hidden debt wiped out shareholders and pensions
Reported: Enron ENE (Company)
Compiled by ScamMarketCap from public recordsHappened Dec 2, 2001United States
- $74B
- Estimated shareholder losses
- 0
- People affected
- 0
- Joined here
- 0
- Open to a lawyer
Enron, the Houston energy trader once ranked among America's largest companies, used off-balance-sheet partnerships and aggressive accounting to hide debt and inflate profits. When the scheme unravelled it filed for bankruptcy in December 2001, then the largest bankruptcy in US history.
Shareholders lost an estimated $74 billion. Thousands of employees lost their jobs and the retirement savings they had been encouraged to hold in Enron stock. Former CEO Jeffrey Skilling was convicted of fraud and conspiracy in 2006; founder Kenneth Lay was also convicted but died before sentencing. The collapse led Congress to pass the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002.
Sources
This case file is compiled from public records and established reporting. Status as of the last update, Nov 1, 2026.
Case files summarize court records, regulator actions and established reporting.
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