Senator Collins joined with PSI Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) to lead an investigation into the manipulative activities that enriched executives and eventually lead to the largest corporate collapse in U.S. history
"Too many people were abandoned by the financial and regulatory systems," said Senator Collins. "It's clear that Enron executives played by one set of rules while Enron employees and investors played by another and in the end many innocent people lost their jobs and in many cases their life savings."
Late last year, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations embarked on a comprehensive investigation of the collapse of the Enron Corporation. Scores of current and former Enron employees were interviewed, numerous subpoenas issued, and over one million pages of documents were provided to the Subcommittee, all in an effort to gain insight and understanding of the inner workings of Enron.
Through the tireless efforts of the dedicated Subcommittee staff on both sides of the aisle, complex transactions that were purposefully designed to confound and confuse were unraveled, and government officials were presented with a road map of unscrupulous and illegal deals engaged in by Enron officials.
"We must continue to make sure those responsible for financial disasters like Enron pay the price. They will not commit the crime without doing time. While this will not ease the pain of a lost job or depleted 401K people should know there will be no perfect crime when it comes to corporate fraud," said Senator Collins.