Enron Corporation

Enron Corporation’s December 2, 2001, Chapter 11 reorganization filing was the largest bankruptcy in history, until exceeded in 2002 by WorldCom. The fall of Enron is arguably the most studied corporate scandal of the 21st century. Enron, headquartered in Houston, Texas, had grown quickly into a superficially giant and well-regarded company. It rapidly collapsed following the sudden disclosure of massive financial misdealing that revealed the company to be a shell rather than a real business. During 2001, Enron stock fell to about $0.30—an unprecedented collapse for a blue-chip stock.

The Enron scandal helped propel passage of the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (March). While Enron was neither the biggest nor the most important source of political funds, it was giving to and influencing politicians. ...