Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

See how Enron CEO Kenneth Lay, COO Jeff Skilling, and CFO Andrew Fastow held California hostage with unnecessary “rolling blackouts” during which the corporation stole millions and millions of dollars. This essential documentary skillfully maps out the shady “mark to market” accounting device that the men who called themselves “the smartest guys in the room” used to commit corporate fraud on a colossal scale. With the aid of the once respected accounting firm of Arthur Andersen, Enron hid losses from their investors in phony offshore corporate shell accounts with the names “M. Smart” (“Maxwell Smart”) and “M. Yass.” When you discover that the cunning “mark to market” accounting con is widely used in corporate America you’ll arrive at your own analysis about the future of the construct of “corporation.”
(Magnolia) Rated R. 110 mins. (B+)