Monday, August 20, 2001.
Fresh from a weekend of contemplation, Sherron Watkins calls her friends at Arthur Andersen and reports her concerns about Enron’s accounting treatment of the raptors.
Meanwhile, Andy Fastow busy with meetings all day. In the morning he met with Ken Lay, Greg Whalley, and Rick Causey. At two o’clock in the afternoon he met with Enron general counsel Jim Derrick. An hour later, he was invited to a Policy Committee Meeting. An hour after that, he met with Mark Metts, Kevin “they’re on to us” Howard, Kristine Mordaunt and a few others about PGE.
Then at the close of business, he called Schuyler Tilney. Schuyler Tilney was the head of Merrill Lynch’s energy group who managed the firm’s relationship with Enron and he was also, personally, an investor in LJM2. He was generally considered a confidant of Fastow. Meanwhile, his wife Elizabeth was an ex-Enron senior vice president and a friend of Ken Lay. When Ken Lay would hear of Sherron Watkins’ concerns about the accounting treatment, he would send her to speak to Elizabeth Tilney, who had worked on the company’s values statement and was presently involved in corporate communications (also, she is the one who introduced the tilted-back E logo in 1996).
But that is all coming in the weeks ahead. It is unknown what Fastow and Tilney spoke about on August 20, 2001.
Also on this day, in 2002, the first federal indictment in the Enron case was handed down. Michael Kopper pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
