On July 21, 2002, WorldCom filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, listing $107 billion in assets and $41 billion in debt—making it the largest bankruptcy in American history. The filing came just 26 days after the company disclosed $3.8 billion in accounting fraud, demonstrating the speed at …
On June 25, 2002, WorldCom, the second-largest telecommunications company in the United States, announced it would restate its financial statements after discovering $3.8 billion in fraudulent accounting entries. The company admitted that “certain transfers” from line cost expenses to …
On January 9, 2002, Arthur Andersen, one of the “Big Five” accounting firms, publicly admitted that its employees had destroyed “several tons” of Enron-related documents and deleted nearly 30,000 emails and computer files during October and November 2001. CEO Joseph Berardino …
On October 16, 2001, Enron announced a $618 million quarterly loss, marking a pivotal moment in the company’s downfall. The loss was largely attributed to a one-time charge for terminating “certain structured finance arrangements” known as the Raptors, which were partnerships …