Wheel, Deal, and Steal: Deceptive Accounting, Deceitful CEOs, and Ineffective Reforms

Part V. Reforms to Help Investors

In 2001, Enron retiree Jan Farmer watched her $700,000 401(k) retirement plan evaporate with the collapse of Enron’s stock, leaving her with just $20,000 for her retirement and about $500 a month net in Social Security survivors benefits. Farmer, a single mother, spent 16 years in the natural gas industry starting with Florida Gas Transmission, which later became a part of Enron. She worked at the training center, where people were trained to handle natural gas safely. She built up her life savings, all in Enron stock, over 16 years with what had been the seventh largest company in the United States, a company touted by the press and Wall Street analysts as the future of American business. “I was proud to invest ...