Arthur Andersen

In March 2002, petitioner was indicted in the Southern District of Texas on one count of violating §§1512(b)(2)(A) and (B).

that body deliberated for seven days and then declared that it was deadlocked.

We hold that the jury instructions failed to convey properly the elements of a “corrup[t] persuas[ion]” conviction under §1512(b), and therefore reverse.

The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed.

They led the jury to believe that it did not have to find any nexus between the “persua[sion]” to destroy documents and any particular proceeding.

even if [petitioner] honestly and sincerely believed that its conduct was lawful, you may find [petitioner] guilty

Petitioner’s “engagement team” for Enron was headed by David Duncan.

Petitioner audited Enron’s publicly filed financial statements and provided internal audit and consulting services to it.

Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

As Enron Corporation’s financial difficulties became public in 2001, petitioner Arthur Andersen LLP, Enron’s auditor, instructed its employees to destroy documents pursuant to its document retention policy.

It is, of course, not wrongful for a manager to instruct his employees to comply with a valid document retention policy under ordinary circumstances.

Odom urged everyone to comply with the firm’s document retention policy.

These, and other smaller meetings, were followed by substantial destruction of paper and electronic documents.

Also on November 8, the SEC served Enron and petitioner with subpoenas for records.

Per Dave–No more shredding

the related information should not be destroyed

A jury trial followed.

The Department of Justice is extremely gratified by today's criminal conviction of Arthur Andersen LLP for obstruction of justice in the Enron investigations.

After 89 years in business, Arthur Andersen LLP on Saturday ended its role as auditor of public companies.

Of its more than 1,200 public-company audit clients, none will remain.

The company now has fewer than 3,000 of the roughly 28,000 employees it had before the Enron scandal.

“As of this day, Arthur Andersen LLP has voluntarily relinquished, or consented to revocation of, its firm permits in all states where it was licensed to practice public accountancy with state regulators,” the company said Saturday in a statement.

The Chicago-based company was convicted in June of obstruction of justice

The U.S. Justice Department announced it will not retry its case against Arthur Andersen.

On principle, Arthur Anderson had appealed the original conviction to clear the firm's name.