Watkins: Lay tried to fire me
Enron whisteblower has her day in court
Sherron Watkins, the famed Enron accountant who blew the whistle on the
massive financial fraud at the energy giant, has testified that Ken Lay
responded to her warnings of financial fraud in August 2001 by launching a
‘bogus’ investigation and try to have her fired.
Testifying in Houston, prosecutors seized on Watkins’ testimony to build on
their case against the Lay and co-accused former chief, Jeff Skilling.
They alleged that while Watkins was trying to save Enron, Lay was selling off
Enron stock worth millions of dollars to pay off loans.
In a now famous memo on 16 August 2001 Watkins told Lay: ‘It sure looks to
the layman on the street that we are hiding losses in related partnerships and
will compensate that company with Enron stock in the future.’
‘I am incredibly nervous we will implode in a wave of accounting scandals,’
she wrote.
Lay and Skilling have both denied wrongdoing in the collapse of Enron.