Enron Email Analysis – Persons Of Interest

Persons Of Interest:

Continuing my analysis of the Enron scandal, I looked at some of the key players in the Enron scandal.

Kenneth Lay

A good list of who played which position at Enron is at:
http://enrondata.org/assets/edo_enron-custodians-data.html
and at:
http://www.infosys.tuwien.ac.at/staff/dschall/email/enron-employees.txt

What can we discover about Enron’s People Of Interest by analyzing their email with SQL?  Among other things, there was some very abusive management at Enron.

Person Of Interest – Andrew Fastow:

Interestingly, there is very little in the emails regarding Andrew Fastow, the CFO of Enron, who was one of the main culprits. He is rather absent in this dataset.

Fastow’s name is not even in the table, employeelist. Very odd. So I wonder, if when cleansing the data to protect privacy of certain people, did they also throw out the most important evidence?

Message table:

+--------------------------------------+----------+
| sender                               | count(*) |
+--------------------------------------+----------+

| andrew.fastow@enron.com              |        9 |
...
+--------------------------------------+----------+

Recipientinfo table:

+----------------------------------+----------+
| rvalue                           | count(*) |
+----------------------------------+----------+
| andrew.fastow@enron.com          |      663 |
| andrew.fastow@ljminvestments.com |        2 |
| andrew.s.fastow@enron.com        |        3 |
| andy.fastow@enron.com            |        4 |
...
+----------------------------------+----------+

Apparently, according to this dataset, Fastow only sent 9 emails in his tenure, and only received 663.

—

Emails To Andrew Fastow:

An 11 million dollar financial deal:

| william.giuliani@enron.com    | andrew.fastow@enron.com | 2001-06-07 07:48:00 | Gentlemen: Attached is the DASH for the approval of the DPR Accelerated Put transaction.  This partial divestiture allows us to put $11 million of our equity interest back to DPR Holding Company, LLC and its subsidiary, Dakota, LLC.  Both entities are controlled by Chris Cline. In addition to redeeming part of our equity interest, the deal provides us 900,000 tons of coal priced below market, an option which could lead to a very profitable synfuel project, and the potential for more marketing fees from other Cline entities. The DASH has been approved and signed by RAC and JEDI II, and is now awaiting Mark Haedicke s review and approval.  I wanted to give you the opportunity to review the DASH and become familiar with the provisions of the deal. If you have any questions on the transaction, feel free to contact me at (412) 490-9048.  Others familiar with the deal are Mike Beyer, George McClellan, and Wayne Gresham. Thank you.  Bill Giuliani

—-

Enron to form one corporate equity investment unit, Enron Principal Investments:

| steven.kean@enron.com         | andrew.fastow@enron.com | 2001-06-12 02:09:00 | As we discussed…   The other memo will follow shortly from Maureen McVicker (my assistant).———————- Forwarded by Steven J Kean/NA/Enron on 06/12/2001 09:08 AM —————————From: Sherri Sera/ENRON@enronXgate on 06/11/2001 04:51 PMTo: Steven J Kean/NA/Enron@Enroncc:  Subject: FW: Draft of Organizational AnnouncementSteve, Kevin Garland sent this to me hoping to get Jeff s approval to send it out from the office of the chairman.  Would it make sense to incorporate it into the memo you re working on?  Please advise.  Thanks, SRS —–Original Message—–From:  Garland, Kevin  Sent: Monday, June 11, 2001 3:28 PMTo: Sera, SherriSubject: FW: Draft of Organizational AnnouncementAnnouncing the Formation of One Corporate Equity Investing UnitTo better develop and manage equity investment opportunities related to our core businesses, Enron has formed one corporate equity investment unit.  This new unit, Enron Principal Investments, will combine the existing investment units of ENA, EBS and Enron Investment Partners.  Additionally, the Enron Special Asset Group will also become part of Enron Principal Investments.  The strategy of Enron Principal Investments will be to work with all the business units of Enron to identify, execute, and manage equity investments, which leverage Enron s unique and proprietary knowledge.   These investments may be in the form of venture capital, LBO s, traditional private equity and distressed debt positions.   Kevin Garland will serve as Managing Director, overseeing all activities of Enron Principal Investments.  Gene Humphrey, Michael Miller, Dick Lydecker, and their groups, will join Kevin and his group to form Enron Principal Investments.  This new business unit will report to an investment committee, consisting of Greg Whalley, Ken Rice and Dave Delainey.  Please join me in congratulating and supporting Kevin, Gene, Michael, Dick and the other members of this group in this effort.Jeff Skilling |

—-

Fortune Magazine Really Liked Enron’s Reputation in 2000:

| mary.clark@enron.com          | andrew.fastow@enron.com | 2000-10-10 05:15:00 | Wouldn t it be great to be named Most Innovative six years straight?Anything is possible at Enron.  You were selected to participate in this year s Fortune Survey of Corporate Reputations.  By now, you should have received a letter and a survey from Fortune.  The information you provide will be used to select America s Most Admired Companies, as well as the Most Innovative Company in America for 2000 (Enron, right?).  Please complete your survey and send it to me.  I am collecting all the surveys and will send them together to the Fortune analysts.  If you have already completed your survey and returned it to Fortune — that s okay — just let me know so I can mark your name off my list.Thanks for you assistance.

—-

Comments on S.E.C. insider trading rules:

“the new rule may actually provide for greater flexibility”

| rex.rogers@enron.com          | andrew.fastow@enron.com | 2000-10-12 04:28:00 | I have been asked to make a brief presentation at next Monday=01,s Executiv=e=20Committee meeting addressing a new S.E.C. insider trading rule.  Although t=he=20new rule may increase exposure to liability for insider trading, certain=20provisions of the new rule may actually provide for greater flexibility in==20the timing of your personal trades in Enron Corp. common stock.  Attached i=s=20a short memo addressing our current Company procedures and policies for=20trading, the new S.E.C. rule, and some suggestions for alternatives that yo=u=20may want to consider concerning your personal trades in Enron Corp. common==20stock.  If anyone wants to discuss the new rule and the trading alternative=s=20provided by the new rule before next week=01,s meeting, please don=01,t hes=itate to=20give me a call at 713-853-3069.  Thank you.Attachments

—-

Public announcement of an offer:

| mark.palmer@enron.com         | andrew.fastow@enron.com | 2000-10-26 09:55:00 | Attached is the final draft of the press release relating to Project True Blue.  It has been approved by the deal team, outside counsel, and Investor Relations.  I propose issuing the release one hour after sending the proposal letter to True Blue s board.   True Blue should issue a press release acknowledging receipt of the offer as well as file the letter as part of an 8-K.  True Blue s timing should be approximately one-half hour after our release.Please send any comments to me at 34738, or reply to this email.Mark Palmer

My thoughts: Wouldn’t you want to wait until the deal was actually signed by the other party first, before making any announcements?

—-

Management Meetings kept getting rescheduled in Fall 2001:

| joannie.williamson@enron.com | andrew.fastow@enron.com | 2001-09-27 10:20:32 | I apologize if there has been any confusion regarding this meeting.  It was originally scheduled for October 1, then moved to October 2, then moved again to October 22. Please confirm your attendance via e-mail.  An agenda will be provided prior to the meeting.Managing Director MeetingDate:        Monday, October 22Time:        8:30 – Noon (Central)Location:    Hyatt Regency – HoustonPlease call if you have any questions.Thanks, Joannie3-1769

| katherine.brown@enron.com     | andrew.fastow@enron.com | 2000-10-23 04:50:00 | THERE WILL NOT BE AN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 30

| joannie.williamson@enron.com | andrew.fastow@enron.com | 2001-11-06 09:10:35 |  —–Original Message—–From:     Enron Announcements/Corp/Enron@ENRON   On Behalf Of Ken Lay- Chairman of the Board@ENRONSent:    Monday, November 05, 2001 10:09 AMTo:    VP s and Above- Enron Management Conference List@ENRONSubject:    2001 Management ConferenceDuring this critical time, it is imperative that our management team remain focused on our business and continue to address the challenges currently facing our company.  For that reason, I have decided to postpone the Enron Management Conference.The Conference will now be held Friday, February 22 – Saturday, February 23, 2002 at the Westin La Cantera Resort in San Antonio.  While the Saturday meeting allows some Enron executives who cannot be away from the office during business hours to attend the Management Conference for the first time, I also recognize that it requires many of you to forfeit additional personal time on behalf of Enron.  I truly appreciate your sacrifice and I sincerely encourage your attendance.The new agenda, while still being finalized, will be abbreviated but every bit as informative and worthwhile as previously planned.  We ll be in touch soon with more details.Regards,Ken Lay

———–

Person Of Interest – Jeffery Skilling:

Like Andrew Fastow, there are relatively few messages to or from Jeffery Skilling in this dataset.

Messages from Jeffery Skilling

+-------------------------+-------------------------------+----------+
| sender                  | recipient                     | count(*) |
+-------------------------+-------------------------------+----------+
...

| jeff.skilling@enron.com | john_mcclain@enron.net        |        6 |
| jeff.skilling@enron.com | david.delainey@enron.com      |        7 |
| jeff.skilling@enron.com | ken.rice@enron.com            |        7 |
| jeff.skilling@enron.com | brian.stanley@enron.com       |        7 |
| jeff.skilling@enron.com | robert.hayes@enron.com        |        7 |
| jeff.skilling@enron.com | joe.kishkill@enron.com        |        7 |
| jeff.skilling@enron.com | kevin.hannon@enron.com        |        8 |
| jeff.skilling@enron.com | kenneth.lay@enron.com         |        8 |
| jeff.skilling@enron.com | rick.buy@enron.com            |        8 |
| jeff.skilling@enron.com | rebecca.carter@enron.com      |        8 |
| jeff.skilling@enron.com | christie.patrick@enron.com    |       11 |
| jeff.skilling@enron.com | joannie.williamson@enron.com  |       13 |
| jeff.skilling@enron.com | sherri.sera@enron.com         |       16 |
+-------------------------+-------------------------------+----------+
Total:  1865 messages

Messages to Jeffery Skilling:

+-----------------------------------+-------------------------+----------+
| sender                            | recipient               | count(*) |
+-----------------------------------+-------------------------+----------+
...
| bob.ambrocik@enron.com            | jeff.skilling@enron.com |       23 |
| maureen.mcvicker@enron.com        | jeff.skilling@enron.com |       25 |
| kevinscott@onlinemailbox.net      | jeff.skilling@enron.com |       26 |
| christie.patrick@enron.com        | jeff.skilling@enron.com |       27 |
| billy.lemmons@enron.com           | jeff.skilling@enron.com |       33 |
| karen.denne@enron.com             | jeff.skilling@enron.com |       33 |
| katherine.brown@enron.com         | jeff.skilling@enron.com |       35 |
| simone.rose@enron.com             | jeff.skilling@enron.com |       40 |
| simone.la@enron.com               | jeff.skilling@enron.com |       42 |
| steven.kean@enron.com             | jeff.skilling@enron.com |       43 |
| rosalee.fleming@enron.com         | jeff.skilling@enron.com |       48 |
| markskilling@hotmail.com          | jeff.skilling@enron.com |       50 |
| kenneth.thibodeaux@enron.com      | jeff.skilling@enron.com |       90 |
| leonardo.pacheco@enron.com        | jeff.skilling@enron.com |      115 |
+-----------------------------------+-------------------------+----------+

706 rows in set (0.60 sec)

Total:  2071

In this dataset, there seems to be very few emails of real business from Jeff Skilling. Most of the emails are broadcast announcements. A simple Group By of the messages revealed that of the 816 emails from Jeffery Skilling, most are duplicates. There are only 63 unique emails! Such as this one with HBS, just before the Enron scandal was about to blow.

| jeff.skilling@enron.com | christie.patrick@enron.com | 2001-08-07 07:20:12 | PLEASE PLAN TO ATTEND “NEW BUSINESS CREATION” Wednesday, August 8th 11:30-1:30 Board Room EB50 Presented by Harvard Business School Professor David A. Garvin* Professor Garvin is making this presentation as part of a five-year research partnership between HBS and Enron entitled Modern Giants. The presentation was recently delivered at the Morgan Stanley European Strategy Seminar, which included over 50 leading European CEOs. It was also presented in May at HBS as an advanced management seminar. Parts of the presentation use Enron as an example. Rsvp by Aug 6th *Resume attached Christie Patrick: 3-6117 Feel free to bring your lunch; drinks will be provided

Seems that his assistant was doing his emailing for him. Or, the data has been over cleansed.

———-

Person of Interest – Kenneth Lay:

+-----------------------+---------------------------+----------+
| sender                | recipient                 | count(*) |
+-----------------------+---------------------------+----------+
...
| kenneth.lay@enron.com | joseph.deffner@enron.com  |       14 |
| kenneth.lay@enron.com | david.duran@enron.com     |       14 |
| kenneth.lay@enron.com | tim.belden@enron.com      |       14 |
| kenneth.lay@enron.com | j..kean@enron.com         |       15 |
| kenneth.lay@enron.com | c..lewis@enron.com        |       15 |
| kenneth.lay@enron.com | billy.lemmons@enron.com   |       15 |
| kenneth.lay@enron.com | k..allen@enron.com        |       19 |
| kenneth.lay@enron.com | l..wells@enron.com        |       35 |
+-----------------------+---------------------------+----------+
936 rows in set (2.51 sec)

Total:  5111

Messages from Ken Lay:

+------------------------------------+---------------------+----------+
| sender                             recipient             | count(*) |
+------------------------------------+---------------------+----------+
...
| steven.kean@enron.com              kenneth.lay@enron.com |       45 |
| maureen.mcvicker@enron.com         kenneth.lay@enron.com |       52 |
| j..kean@enron.com                  kenneth.lay@enron.com |       53 |
| rosalee.fleming@enron.com          kenneth.lay@enron.com |       76 |
| joannie.williamson@enron.com       kenneth.lay@enron.com |       92 |
| karen.denne@enron.com              kenneth.lay@enron.com |       96 |
| leonardo.pacheco@enron.com         kenneth.lay@enron.com |      115 |
| kenneth.thibodeaux@enron.com       kenneth.lay@enron.com |      146 |
+----------------------------------+-----------------------+----------+

797 rows in set (0.62 sec)
Total:  2761

Like Jeff Skilling, most of the emails from Ken Lay’s account are duplicate broadcast messages. A simple Group By revealed that of the 5111 messages sent from Ken Lay, there were only 21 distinct emails! Like this one:

| kenneth.lay@enron.com | matthew.almy@enron.com | 2001-08-23 11:24:25 | To: Associate/Analyst Program Worldwide From: Ken Lay Department: Office of the Chairman Subject: Associate/Analyst Program Date: August 22, 2001 As most of you know, Jeff Skilling created the Associate/Analyst Program in 1990. This Program is one of his most successful and important contributions to Enron, and will continue as a cornerstone of the Company. It remains our single most important source of new talent.The purpose of this memo is to reassure you that the direction, philosophy, and importance of the Program remains unchanged. As we have said many times, most of our new businesses were created by graduates and members of the Program. Many of the current leaders of our company are also graduates of the Program.Three broad principles will continue to guide the direction of the Program.? We will have only one Associate/Analyst Program at Enron, and it is a Company asset.? We will have a “One Enron” presence on campus to provide clarity of message and purpose.? The Program is rotational in nature, and will prepare our future leaders for success by providing exposure to Enron s network of people and systems.The business prospects for Enron, and the opportunities for personal growth and development have never been better. We also enjoy the deepest and broadest talent pool we have ever had. Each and every one of you can be a key contributor to making Enron the World s Leading Company.cc:Billy Lemmons – Associate/Analyst ProgramJohn Sherriff – Associate/Analyst Committee ChairManagement CommitteeAssociate/Analyst CommitteeAssociate/Analyst DepartmentHuman Resources LeadsProgram PRC RepsProgram Supervisors

———–

Enron Had A Very Toxic Work Environment:

A few emails from Ken Lay revealed that some individuals had wrote to him regarding a very toxic work environment at Enron, hoping that he would address the issues.

| kenneth.lay@enron.com | Dear Pam:Thank you for your e-mail of August 15th.  It is always a pleasure to hear from former employees.  Thank you also for calling attention to instances which, on the surface, do not appear to be representative of our expectations of Enron leadership.Part of our continuous improvement involves an on-going review of our management and the diversity of styles therein.  True, not everyone is agreeable to Enron s culture or the many different management styles at Enron.  We do, however, expect all of our employees – not just management – to adhere to our core values of respect, integrity, communication and excellence.  These values become even more significant as we continue to grow and expand our scope of business, and more critical as we become a more culturally diverse workforce.We enjoy our status as one of the best places in America to work according to Fortune and other sources thanks in part to our willingness to examine our organization and make needed change.  Our employee surveys, belief in open communication, and exit interview process for employees choosing to leave Enron are examples of our efforts to seek out feedback and scrutinize the way we do business.  Your feedback will help play a role in that process.Sincerely,Ken Lay —–Original Message—–

From:     Pam.Allison@dynegy.com@ENRON [mailto:IMCEANOTES-Pam+2EAllison+40dynegy+2Ecom+40ENRON@ENRON.com]  On Behalf Of Pamela.J.Allison@dynegy.comSent:    Wednesday, August 15, 2001 5:39 PMTo:    Lay, KennethSubject:    Jeff s LeavingMr. Lay:Mr. Lay, the I am not writing this in malice but in hopes that it helps getEnron back the way it used to treat their employees and makes it the numberone employer of choice again.  I hope you can get back the feeling that Ihad when I first started there and get the stress level down in yourorganization for the sake of your employees.I am a former employee who worked at Enron for 10 years – my husband was,at one time, in charge of A/P.  My one big disappointment was that I nevergot to meet you.    During that time, I made a lot of friends who Icontinue to see from time to time.  I left last year and have missed thecompany since I left but would not contemplate coming back unless severalpeople have been replaced.  (Joannie Williamson and Sheri Sera know my story.) I “knew” Jeff but I don t think he knew me by name, only by sight, even though I worked in ENA when it only had 400 employees with 3 of us in HR.He was NOT what I would call a people person!  Unless you were in an upper level position, he did not take the time to find out your name.  (Ron Burnsis still one of my favorite people because of his talent with people – we need more like him in the business world!)As you can see, I am now working for a competitor and since I work in HR, Icontinually run into former Enron workers who have also left – most of their reasons are the same.It is not that they have lost faith in Enron as a company but because ofthey way they were treated by their managers.  During the last 5 years I was there, I noticed a change in direction in the way employees were treated by upper management – and upper management was getting away with it.  Not only were they getting away with it, these people were being rewarded for this behavior.  I have heard stories of lower level employees being screamed at and in one instance, one of the VP s who was brought down from Canada was heard in his office screaming and pounding his telephone on his desk.  Heaven only knows how he treats his subordinates.  Believe me,the way employees are treated at Enron is being talked about on the streets of Houston and on the different college campuses.  You might also at some point take the time to find out why so many good people have left the HR community at Enron and it is not because they wanted to.I don t know if you will see this, but I hope so.  Good luck on bringing Enron back to way it was – I still own stock!!Thanks for listening…Pam Allison |        1 |

| kenneth.lay@enron.com |  —–Original Message—– From: ATroche851088951@aol.com@ENRON Sent: Sat 9/1/2001 5:36 PM To: KLay@enron.com Cc: Subject: Fwd: Mr. Kenneth L. Lay<< To:  KLay@enron.com >>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bitReturn-path: <ATroche851088951@aol.com>From: ATroche851088951@aol.comFull-name: ATroche851088951Message-ID: <6b.19f2d29f.28c2b810@aol.com>Date: Sat, 1 Sep 2001 18:15:44 EDTSubject: Mr. Kenneth L. LoyTo: KLoy@enron.comMIME-Version: 1.0Content-Type: text/plain; charset=”US-ASCII”X-Mailer: AOL 5.0 for Windows sub 138                   This letter is to ask to please check into the irregularities that are going on in your company Pro-Caribe in Puerto Rico.In this company there seems to be preference for two employees which are the favorites between managment, mr. Roberto Aponte and mr. Rafael Medina. The two employees do not work rotating shifts they have a steady day job make more money than the other employees overtime is always given to them a one hour break while  the other employees have to sit back and are not able to do anything about it because if they do they will be put on suspension and their company motto is ,” If you dont like it quit”.  All the recognitions and cashprices go to these two individuals they always come out employee of the yearor the trimestrial plant operator and then again there not plant operators.There is no opportunity for other employees to advance at this site becauseof the discrimination and abuses  going on towards them and which is clearlyevident.   Actually these two individuals hold the post that when there is anincoming ship they have to attend to it but lately this ship is not coming inas ofthen as it used to and yet this individualsstill earn the extra moneywithout lifting a finger.   Some of the priviliges they have is that they donot have to work rotating shifts and   they are off on holidays  meanwhilethe other employees have to work the rotating shifts, work holidays and makeless money.  Please mr. Loy it is in your hands to make justice for the otheremployees who work hard and yet they dont seem to be appreciated.  Allpromotions and recognitions are based on the fact that the two employees havebought their way to their current positions by bringing in gifts and takingtheir employers out to dinner.  This action which i believe is wrong becauseit is just like taking a bribe.   Once again mr. Loy i ask for your help andhope you will be able to investigate and be able to straighten out thissituation.  I have witness these events and i do not like any type ofdiscrimination i leave it in your hands.

——

Abusive behavior in Enron, and its subsidiaries, were being brought to the attention of Kenneth Lay.

Can we conclude that there is there a correlation between abusive, and illegal/unethical behaviour in companies? Which comes first? Would looking for abusive behaviour be a good indicator of unethical and illegal behaviour?

I’ve often wondered that if an organization cheats or abuses its employees, would it also cheat the government, customers, shareholders, etc.?

If you know of any studies, please leave a comment.