The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

Project Summer
During the summer of 2001, Enron made an attempt to sell a number of Enron
International's assets, many of which were not sold. The public and media believed it
was unknown why Enron wanted to sell these assets, suspecting it was because Enron
was in need of cash. Employees who worked with company assets were told in 2000
that Jeff Skilling believed that business assets were an outdated means of company
worth, and instead he wanted to build a company based on "intellectual assets".
Enron Global Exploration & Production, Inc.
Enron Global Exploration & Production Inc. (EGEP) was an Enron subsidiary that
was born from the split of domestic assets via EOG Resources (formerly Enron Oil and
Gas EOG) and international assets via EGEP (formerly Enron Oil and Gas Int'l, Ltd
EOGIL). Among the EGEP assets were the Panna-Mukta and the South Tapti fields,
discovered by the Indian state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), which
operated the fields initially. December 1994, a joint venture began between ONGC
(40%), Enron (30%) and Reliance (30%). Mid year of 2002, British Gas (BG) completed
the acquisition of EGEP's 30% share of the Panna-Mukta and Tapti fields for $350
million, a few months before Enron filed bankruptcy.
Enron Prize for Distinguished Public Service
During the mid-1990s, Enron established an endowment for the Enron Prize for
Distinguished Public Service, awarded by Rice University's Baker Institute to "recognize
outstanding individuals for their contributions to public service". Recipients were:
1995: Colin Powell.
1997: Mikhail Gorbachev.
1999 (early): Eduard Shevardnadze.
1999 (late): Nelson Mandela.
2001: Alan Greenspan.
Greenspan, because of his position as the Fed chairman, was not at liberty to accept
the $10,000 honorarium, the $15,000 sculpture, nor the crystal trophy, but only
accepted the "honor" of being named an Enron Prize recipient. The situation was further
complicated because a few days earlier, Enron had filed paperwork admitting it had
falsified financial statements for five years. Greenspan did not mention Enron a single
time during his speech. At the ceremony, Ken Lay stated, "I'm looking forward to our
first woman recipient." The next morning, it was reported in the Houston Chronicle that
no decision had been made on whether the name of the prize would be changed. 19
days after the prize was awarded to Greenspan, Enron declared bankruptcy.
During early 2002, Enron was awarded Harvard's (in)famous Ig Nobel Prize for 'Most
Creative Use of Imaginary Numbers.' The various former members of Enron
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