Great article in Fortune by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind about what brought Enron down. The article focuses on the ruthlessness and lavishness of Andy Fastow, who was hired by Enron brass as the CFO for his skill with creative financing (most CFOs are hired to manage risk, not to exploit it). Jeffery Toobin has a good article in the New Yorker (not online) about why Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling aren’t likely to go to jail (basically, they have a plausible claim that they didn’t know what Fastow was up to). The article ends with this statement: “The sad truth of the criminal-justice system is that when everyone is guilty, no one is.” I hope that’s not true.
P.S. If you want a better practice, start using the 80/20 Principle.
Many a time innocent people ended up being punished for the crimes that they didn’t do.