WaPo Enron Series

Two of the (alleged) criminals behind the Worldcom fraud were arrested today, which should begin to neutralize partisan complaints that the Bush Administration is too soft on these matters.

However, it's a little shocking that none of the (alleged) criminals behind the Enron fraud have been hauled away yet. The Washington Post just concluded an outstanding five-part series that leaves little doubt that Andrew Fastow, Jeffrey Skilling, and probably Ken Lay knew exactly what they were doing, and intentionally misled investors, employees, and maybe even each other at times.

The Washington Post series is really excellent, an example of high quality journalism that has become altogether rare (sorry, but blogs aren't going to replace this kind of journalism anytime soon). Interestingly, Andrew Fastow announced this week that he would be selling the River Oaks mansion currently under construction only after pictures of the palace appeared in the Post. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not.

In any case, this series makes clear that Fastow and Skilling weren't very nice or honest people. Of course, the local Chron, which should have owned this story and been cruising towards its very first Pulitzer, instead continues to publish puff pieces on what swell guys the trio of (alleged) criminals are. Pitiful.

[Posted at 21:27 CST on 08/01/02] [Link]