"would have been picked up"" by the external auditors, Ernst & Young. After receiving legal advice Ernst & Young declined to appear before a parliamentary committee. This in turn led to inaccurate figures for the total directors' loans given for eight consecutive years in the end of year Anglo accounts. 2008 was the first occasion on which FitzPatrick revealed his true figure, that of €87 million or twice the total of the other twelve directors' loan figures. The situation was described as Ireland's version of Enron, the American energy company which went bankrupt in 2001, and it was said that"
"to play this spring."" Enron scandal The Enron scandal, publicized in October 2001, eventually led to the bankruptcy of the Enron Corporation, an American energy company based in Houston, Texas, and the ""de facto"" dissolution of Arthur Andersen, which was one of the five largest audit and accountancy partnerships in the world. In addition to being the largest bankruptcy reorganization in American history at that time, Enron was cited as the biggest audit failure. Enron was formed in 1985 by Kenneth Lay after merging Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth. Several years later, when Jeffrey Skilling was hired, he developed a"
"Enron scandal The Enron scandal, publicized in October 2001, eventually led to the bankruptcy of the Enron Corporation, an American energy company based in Houston, Texas, and the ""de facto"" dissolution of Arthur Andersen, which was one of the five largest audit and accountancy partnerships in the world. In addition to being the largest bankruptcy reorganization in American history at that time, Enron was cited as the biggest audit failure. Enron was formed in 1985 by Kenneth Lay after merging Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth. Several years later, when Jeffrey Skilling was hired, he developed a staff of executives that"
"began an investigation, and rival Houston competitor Dynegy offered to purchase the company at a very low price. The deal failed, and on December 2, 2001, Enron filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. Enron's $63.4 billion in assets made it the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history until WorldCom's bankruptcy the next year. Many executives at Enron were indicted for a variety of charges and some were later sentenced to prison. Andersen was found guilty of illegally destroying documents relevant to the SEC investigation, which voided its license to audit public companies and effectively"
"HKN, Inc. HKN, Inc., formerly Harken Energy Corporation, is a petroleum and natural gas exploration and production company headquartered in Southlake, Texas. It is notable for the Harken Energy scandal, which involved allegations of insider trading by George W. Bush in 1990. In 1973, the company was founded as an unprofitable collection of Texas oil wells for investors seeking tax write-offs. In 1986, the company acquired Spectrum 7 for 200,000 shares from George W. Bush. After the sale of his company, Bush served on the board of directors of the company and received $80,000-$100,000 per year in consulting fees. Bush"
"that it suffered were not reported in its financial statements. A rescue attempt by a similar, smaller energy company, Dynegy, failed during late November due to concerns about an unexpected restatement of earnings. Enron filed for bankruptcy on December 2, 2001. In addition, the scandal caused the dissolution of Arthur Andersen, which at the time was one of the ""Big Five"" - the world's foremost accounting firms. The company was found guilty of obstruction of justice during 2002 for destroying documents related to the Enron audit. Since the SEC is not allowed to accept audits from convicted felons, Andersen was"
"2002, Enron was awarded Harvard's (in)famous Ig Nobel Prize for 'Most Creative Use of Imaginary Numbers.' The various former members of Enron management team all refused to accept the award in person, although no reason was given at the time. Enron Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded in 1985 as a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional companies. Before its bankruptcy on December 3, 2001, Enron employed approximately 29,000 staff and was a major electricity, natural gas, communications and pulp and paper company, with"
"acquisition of GenOn Energy in December 2012 for $1.7 billion. GenOn's stock ceased trading and was exchanged for NRG stock. The company was originally known as Houston Industries (), and Houston Lighting & Power was its subsidiary. In August 1996 HI closed on a merger with NorAm Energy Corp, a natural gas utility. The combined company, as of 1997, had assets of $18 billion and annual revenues of about $9 billion. By November 1997 there was a published report stating that the company wished to acquire Central & South West Corp. HI declined to comment. In 1999, Houston Industries changed"
"In 1999 the City of Houston, which had acquired the building, renovated it for $43 million to house city government offices. Houston Lighting & Power Houston Lighting & Power Co. (HL&P), later named Reliant Energy HL&P/Entex, was the single power and utility company that served Greater Houston of the U.S. state of Texas. It was a subsidiary of Houston Industries (HI, NYSE: HOU), which later was renamed to Reliant Energy (REI). HL&P had a service area of . In 1998 in terms of kilowatt-hour sales it was the tenth-largest energy company in the United States. It began operations in 1882."
"Houston Lighting & Power Houston Lighting & Power Co. (HL&P), later named Reliant Energy HL&P/Entex, was the single power and utility company that served Greater Houston of the U.S. state of Texas. It was a subsidiary of Houston Industries (HI, NYSE: HOU), which later was renamed to Reliant Energy (REI). HL&P had a service area of . In 1998 in terms of kilowatt-hour sales it was the tenth-largest energy company in the United States. It began operations in 1882. In 1999 Houston Industries changed its name to Reliant Energy. Therefore HL&P was renamed ""Reliant Energy HL&P/Entex"". When the state of"
"during the 1990s and later infamous for its financial scandal in 2001. 1400 Smith Street was originally known as Four Allen Center prior to Enron relocating to Houston in 1985. Before Enron's collapse, the energy giant constructed a second, similar building across the street, connected to 1400 Smith Street by a circular skywalk. In 2006, Brookfield Properties acquired the Four Allen Center for $120 million. At the same time, Brookfield announced that Chevron USA signed a lease for the entire building. Brookfield held 4 Allen Center in a joint partnership with the private equity group The Blackstone Group. As of"
"and 11th-tallest in the country. Skyscraper construction in downtown Houston came to an end in the mid-1980s with the collapse of Houston's energy industry and the resulting economic recession. Twelve years later, the Houston-based Enron Corporation began constructing a 40-floor, 1,284,013sq.ft skyscraper in 1999 (which was completed in 2002) with the company collapsing in one of the most dramatic corporate failures in the history of the United States only two years later. Chevron bought this building to set up a regional upstream energy headquarters, and in late 2006 announced further consolidation of employees downtown from satellite suburban buildings, and even"
"Kona Energy. When the state of Texas deregulated the electricity market, the former Houston Lighting & Power (HL&P) was split into several companies. In 2003 HL&P was split into Reliant Energy, Texas Genco, and CenterPoint Energy. Until December 15, 2004, CenterPoint Energy and its predecessors operated in its various markets under these names; they were used separately prior to Reliant Energy, and later in conjunction with the Reliant Energy and CenterPoint Energy names: In late 2004, four private equity firms—the Texas Pacific Group, the Blackstone Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and Hellman & Friedman—combined forces to purchase Texas Genco from Centerpoint."
"of the largest independent power plant operators in the country. The new company, named GenOn Energy, would be based in Houston but led by Mirant's Chairman and CEO Edward Muller until 2013. At that time, Muller would retire and Mark Jacobs, the president and COO of RRI Energy, would become CEO of GenOn. The new company had a market capitalization of about $3 billion, owning or operating 47 plants in 12 states capable of generating more than 24,650 megawatts of power. The merger was completed on December 3, 2010. In March 2004, a grand jury returned a six-count indictment against"
"energy company, and Centerpoint Energy, the remaining mostly regulated energy delivery company. Reliant Energy's power plants became a wholly owned subsidiary of Centerpoint Energy. The new company was known as Texas Genco. When the state of Texas deregulated the electricity market, the former Houston Lighting & Power (HL&P) was split into several companies. In 2003 HL&P was split into Reliant Energy, Texas Genco, and CenterPoint Energy. Seeking opportunities arising out of the deregulation of the electricity industry in Texas, in late 2004 four private equity firms—the Texas Pacific Group, the Blackstone Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and Hellman & Friedman of"
"NRG Energy NRG Energy, Inc. is a large American energy company, dual-headquartered in West Windsor Township, New Jersey, and Houston, Texas. It was formerly the wholesale arm of Xcel Energy, and was spun off in bankruptcy in 2004. When the state of Texas deregulated the electricity market, Houston Industries, the parent company of Houston Lighting & Power (HL&P) was broken up. In 2003 Houston Industries was split into three companies. The power plants went to Texas Genco, CenterPoint Energy took over the distribution system, and the retail and wholesale electricity business became Reliant Energy. In 2006, NRG Energy bought Texas"
"Gas & Electric; however, the merger was cancelled in December 1997. In 2001, the company was reorganized and became a unit of Pepco Holdings. In 2003, the holding company took over Pepco's investment subsidiary. On March 23, 2016, the company was acquired by Exelon. In 2011, ""Business Insider"" named the company first on its list of ""The 19 Most Hated Companies In America"" based on its American Customer Satisfaction Index rating. An investigation by ""The Washington Post"" in 2010 faulted Pepco for poor reliability. The report noted that the company's performance had slipped since 2005, comparing poorly to other major"
"The Kansas gas operations were sold to Empire District Electric Company. In 2008, the Colorado electric properties were acquired by Black Hills Corporation and was renamed Black Hills Energy. In 2001 UtiliCorp spun off Aquila but then bought it back in 2002 and then renamed the entire corporation Aquila, Inc. Aquila's stock price peaked at $37.55 in May 2001 and it ranked #33 on the Fortune 500. The stock plummeted to $6.75 in July 2002 in the wake of the Enron scandal which had called into question business practices of all electric utilities. In 2004 five lawsuits were filed in"
"Enron, a Houston-based energy company, got caught in accounting scandals, ultimately leading to collapse of the company and its accounting firm Arthur Andersen, and the arrest and imprisonment of several executives. In 2002, the University of Houston celebrated its 75th anniversary with an enrollment of 34,443 that fall semester. At the same time, the University of Houston System celebrated its 25th anniversary with a total enrollment of over 54,000. The new international Terminal E at George Bush Intercontinental Airport opened with 30 gates in 2003. The Toyota Center, the arena for the Houston Rockets opened in fall 2003. METRO put"
"Petrohawk Petrohawk Energy Corporation was an independent energy company headquartered in Houston, Texas. Founded in 2003, Petrohawk grew rapidly through mergers and acquisitions. The company was originally known as Beta Oil & Gas until shareholders approved a name change on July 15, 2004. In November 2004, Petrohawk bought Wynn-Crosby for $425 million, marking its first large acquisition. The Wynn-Crosby/ Petrohawk transaction was named the “2004 M&A Deal of the Year” by ""The Oil and Gas Investor"". In July 2005, Petrohawk merged with Mission Resources, nearly doubling in size. One year later, Petrohawk bought KCS Energy for 80 million shares of"
"Malone Light & Ice Company. The Malone company was sold to Texas Utilities Co. on . On , the city council voted to build a power plant after failing to negotiate rate concessions from Texas Utilities. The plant came online , and formed the backbone of what eventually became LP&L. From 1993 to 2003, successive city councils drew more than $60 million from the company's reserve fund to cover unrelated expenses. Additionally, six years of chronic mismanagement resulted in a $22 million operating deficit. The company teetered on bankruptcy. Beginning in 2004, the city restructured the company, including creating an"
"outside natural gas and electrical generation. In August 2000, the company announced that it had purchased Extant Inc., a broadband provider building a nationwide fiber optic network, for US$152.5 million. Dynegy, along with Enron, El Paso Corporation, Reliant Energy, and several other energy companies, was accused of price manipulation and other fraudulent practices during the California electricity crisis in 2000 and 2001. The case against Dynegy was dismissed in 2003. In 2001, Dynegy made a white knight US$8 billion takeover bid for Enron, which was saddled with $13 billion in debt and whose stock had plummeted. The deal began unraveling"
"Texas deregulated the electricity market, HL&P was split into several companies. In 2003 the company was split into Reliant Energy, Texas Genco, and CenterPoint Energy. Texas Genco assumed control of the area's power plants. CenterPoint assumed control of the poles and power lines. Reliant Energy took over the sales of electricity to businesses and individuals. Before the dissolution of the company, its headquarters were shared with Houston Industries in the Houston Industries Plaza, now the CenterPoint Energy Plaza in Downtown Houston. The Bob Lanier Public Works Building in Downtown Houston, formerly the Electric Building, was previously the HL&P office building."
"GenOn Energy GenOn Energy, Inc., based in Houston, Texas, United States, was an energy company that provided electricity to wholesale customers in the United States. The company was one of the largest independent power producers in the nation with more than 14,000 megawatts of power generation capacity across the United States using natural gas, fuel oil and coal. GenOn Energy is headquartered in the Reliant Energy Plaza in Downtown Houston. The company, formerly known as RRI Energy, acquired Mirant on December 3, 2010. The corporate names and logos of both RRI Energy and Mirant were retired. NRG Energy completed its"
"enough electricity to completely power the facility. In 2017 S. C. Johnson purchased the ecological product Ecover and Method brands on undisclosed terms. A RICO lawsuit by tax whistleblower Mike DeGuelle alleges that since 1997, S. C. Johnson & Son has taken advantage of audit errors and filed fraudulent tax returns, underpaying its taxes by millions of dollars. H. Fisk Johnson ordered an inquiry into the allegations, and told Tax Analysts that he learned ""other details of the decisions they (the tax department) made that I didn't like. I didn't like what I heard."" On December 15, 2011, the United"
"of 1935. In 1967, Holyoke Water Power Company (HWP) (formed in 1859) joined the NU System, and in 1992 the Public Service Company of New Hampshire (PSNH, formed in 1926) followed. PSNH had declared bankruptcy in January, 1988 due to problems getting a license for the completed Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant. In 1999 Con Edison and Northeast Utilities entered negotiations that would have created one of the largest utilities in the United States. However Con Edison backed out of the merger in 2001 after Connecticut's Attorney General Richard Blumenthal threatened lawsuits to block it. Legislation passed in the late 1990s"
"that will mark one of the most lucrative private equity investments in recent years. Texas Genco Texas Genco was a power generation company that came about as part of the deregulated Texas electricity market and owned numerous power plants in the Houston area that serve area power needs. The Company was created in 2001 as part of the Texas electricity market deregulation. Incumbent utilities were required to separate their business functions into a retail electric provider (REP), a transmission and distribution service provider (TDSP), and a wholesale generator. In 2000, Reliant Energy announced that it was splitting its business into"
"1000 Main 1000 Main, formerly Reliant Energy Plaza, is a tall skyscraper in Downtown Houston, Texas managed by Transwestern. It houses the headquarters of GenOn Energy, and the building has around of space. 1000 Main was constructed from 2001 to 2003 and has 36 floors. It is the 25th tallest building in Houston. It is made out of glass, steel, and concrete. Lights atop the building and on the main street side flash in patterns of various colors at night. This building occupies the site where the Lamar Hotel stood before it was demolished in 1985. A two-level trading floor"
"Santa Fe Snyder Santa Fe Snyder Corporation was an independent oil and gas exploration and production company headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company was formed by the 1999 merger of Houston-based Santa Fe Energy Resources and Fort Worth based Snyder Oil Corporation. Santa Fe Snyder merged with Devon Energy in August 2000. Santa Fe Snyder was a publicly held company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SFS. On Jan 13, 1999 Snyder Oil Corporation and Santa Fe Energy Resources announced their intention to merge. The merger was completed on May 5, 1999. Santa Fe Snyder"
"tens of thousands of complaints across the U.S. from consumers saying they were misled into signing up with Just Energy, and instead of saving money on their monthly bills as advertised, the cost went up. The complaints led to a consumer fraud lawsuit filed by the state of Illinois, and investigations in New York, Ohio and Canada. Just Energy settled each of these cases, paying large fines and promising to change its sales practices. In June 2003, the ""Toronto Star"" reported that both Direct Energy and the Ontario Energy Savings Corp., a subsidiary of the Energy Savings Income Fund, had"
"October 2011, Kinder Morgan acquired El Paso Corp. in a $21.1 billion deal. In December 2011, the non-partisan organization Public Campaign criticized El Paso for spending $2.94 million on lobbying and not paying income taxes during 2008-2010, instead getting $41 million in income tax rebates, despite making a profit of $4.1 billion and increasing executive pay by 47%. On 27 September 2002, the shares of the El Paso Corporation plunged after an administrative law judge at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruled that the company helped illegally drive energy prices to record highs in California between 2000 and 2001 by"
"Dynegy Dynegy Inc. was an electric company based in Houston, Texas, in the United States. It owned and operated a number of power stations in the U.S., all of which were natural gas-fueled or coal-fueled, until merging with Vistra Energy on April 9, 2018. . The company is located at 601 Travis Street in Downtown Houston. The company was founded in 1984 as Natural Gas Clearinghouse. It was originally an energy brokerage, buying and selling natural gas supplies. It changed its name to NGC Corporation in 1995 after entering the electrical power generation business. The company adopted the name Dynegy"
"StarTex Power StarTex Power was a Texas-based retail electricity provider between 2004 and 2018. The company was headquartered in Houston, Texas. Texas deregulated the electricity market in 2002. StarTex Power was founded in 2004 by Marcie and Bob Zlotnik. Marcie previously served as president and director of Gexa Energy, a retail electricity provider she co-founded in 2001. StartTex was purchased by Constellation Energy in 2011 and the StarTex brand was discontinued on June 20th, 2018. StarTex Power served roughly 170,000 customers. The company sold its services to commercial and residential customers and collaborated with different companies to provide StarTex Power"