Arthur Anderson Conviction Overturned! WTF?

[lonestarnot]

The Supreme Court unanimously overturned Tuesday the conviction of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm for destroying Enron Corp.-related documents before the energy giant's

Richter said prosecutors continue to examine the decision and will "determine whether to retry the case."

But legal analysts said that is unlikely, given the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy and the tougher standard of proof required by yesterday's decision.


The Supreme Court's ruling may ease Arthur Andersen LLP's task of fighting shareholder lawsuits related to its work for Enron Corp. and other clients. (By Tim Boyle -- Getty Images)


Wed., Noon ET
Arthur Andersen Case
Post reporter Carrie Johnson, who covered Arthur Andersen's trial in Houston in 2002, will be online at noon ET to answer reader questions on the Supreme Court's overturning of the accounting firm's conviction.



Ruling Won't Deter Prosecution of Fraud
The Supreme Court's resounding decision in favor of disgraced accounting firm Arthur Andersen LLP is a harsh rebuke for federal prosecutors but will not force a retreat in the Justice Department's three-year-old effort to prosecute corporate fraud, legal experts said yesterday.


From FindLaw
Background Material (U.S. v. Arthur Andersen, LLP)
Opinion (Arthur Andersen, LLP v. U.S.)


Accounting Scandals
Ruling Won't Deter Prosecution of Fraud
AIG overstated net income by $3.9 billion
AIG Acknowledges Accounting Improprieties
Scrushy Jury Still Uncertain
NY authorities sue AIG and former execs
More Stories


"It would be 10 times harder with a jury instruction that you must show evil intent," said Paul Kamenar, senior executive counsel for the conservative Washington Legal Foundation, which supported Andersen in the case.

[sam sarrha]

1. it would have looked so bad if Bu$h had pardoned him, its better this way.

:shrug:

[swag]

2. IHT (via NYT) has a good analysis of this decision

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/06/01/business/audit.php

It's no finding of innocence. It's a finding of fault with the judge's instructions to the jury.

to wit:

None of that, legal experts said, means that the Supreme Court ruling has cleared Arthur Andersen or demonstrated anything about whether it should have been indicted.

"The correctness of the jury instructions says very little about actual guilt of Arthur Andersen," said Stephen Meagher, a former prosecutor who now runs his own law firm in San Francisco. "What it does say is that the government may have a little bit harder time in proving guilt" if the case is retried.

This is far from an unusual outcome. Many high-profile white-collar convictions - particularly those that emerged from the Wall Street insider trading and market manipulation scandals of the 1980s - fell apart on appeal on the very issue of lack of proof of criminal intent or poor jury charges on knowledge of wrongdoing.

Legal specialists said that the reversal in the Andersen case may well result in more careful wording of jury instructions in future white-collar cases involving Enron and other high-profile defendants. But while that may raise the hurdle a bit for the government, they said, it is far from a crippling blow.

"It is certainly less likely that there will be a permissive jury instruction in Enron cases because of this ruling," Meagher said. "But the likelihood of conviction depends on the quality of the evidence, not the instruction. And the evidence of intent in the Enron cases looks a lot stronger than Andersen's ever did."

[lonestarnot]

5. trouble is we (taxpayers) pay for a redo!

[Atman]

6. No redo...it's over. They are no more. 28,000 out of work.

There is nothing to "re-do." The SCOTUS ruling was not on substance of the charges. It had to do with the proverbial technicality, poor jury instructions. But the whole thing is moot. AA shut down, turned itself into Accenture, and viola, there is no one left to prosecute.

Unfortunately, this will go down like the conviction of Bush spy-guy. (Whatshisname?). The right will now say Arthur Anderson was INNOCENT, since technically, by being thrown out, it is as if the conviction never happened. The facts all still stand. What they did is fact. But the jury was given poor instructions on how to deliberate. Awwwwwww.

Fuckers.

[lonestarnot]

11. Not reversed and remanded?

[swag]

8. Yeah, but due process is worth the money.

Granted, it's falling apart everywhere (particularly at the highest levels of our executive branch, and within the clauses of the Patriot Act), but a fair and methodical judiciary is critical to our republic, regardless of whether one agrees with the outcomes.

[lonestarnot]

9. Agree! Absolutely!

[ooglymoogly]

15. not buying it

a selective and unfair application of the law can destroy a democracy and the civilization it resides in....justice must be blind and alas it is not.

[Gothmog]

12. Good analysis

Andersen was not cleared but it is clear that it may be difficult to obtain a conviction using the correct jury charge.

Andersen is gone. I doubt that there will be a retrial of this case.

[underpants]

3. No mention of it at all on any news I have seen

ABC WNT last night-NOPE
Local morning news- NOPE
The Today Show-NOPE

Nothing.

[ooglymoogly]

4. only cost a few tens of thousands of jobs

but hey the d.a.'s got to strut and posture sanctimoniously without regard for the employees and families of a.a. or the company itself. long live the new reich.

[lonestarnot]

7. Yeah WTF...those people didn't need jobs....Reich in action....

[RubyDuby in GA]

10. Right...but at least they got Martha

Hardened criminal that she is.

:sarcasm:

[KurtNYC]

13. USA Today covered it this way

The ruling is a setback for the Bush administration, which made prosecution of white-collar criminals a high priority following accounting scandals at major corporations.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/banking/2005-0...

The poor Boosh admin dealt another set back in their dogged pursuit of white collar donations, er, criminals! The "news" is so rediculously skewed it would be impossible to write parodies of it.

And I note that Stewart was convicted ironically only of obstruction.

[ooglymoogly]

16. well martha is a democrat; what do you expect fer chrys sake?

integrity...shur

[ElsewheresDaughter]

14. patback time the USSC is paving the way to give Kenny Boy his free pass