Enron founder and former Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay was indicted in July 2004 for his role in the Enron scandals. The SEC’s complaint against Lay, ironically, seemed to corroborate Lay’s protests that he had nothing to do with the manipulation of Enron’s books. The complaint, however, did heavily accuse Lay, in concert with Jeff Skilling and Richard Causey, of disclosure fraud. Review the SEC’s complaint at www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/comp18776.pdf, beginning with paragraph 59, and answer the following questions:
a. The SEC complaint accuses the defendants of disseminating false and misleading statements through which seven forums?
b. How many separate incidents does the SEC complaint identify with Causey, Skilling, and Lay making false and misleading statements?
c. How many false or misleading reports does the SEC accuse the defendants of causing to be filed with the SEC?
d. Using the SEC’s online EDGAR database, look up the last false and misleading form listed:
Form 8-K dated November 9, 2001. As stated in Footnote 11 of Chapter 10, “Form 8-K is the SEC report filed at the end of any month in which significant events have occurred that are of interest to public investors.” Summarize the significant events reported by this particular 8-K (reflected by the six bullet points at the beginning of the document).