The lies that destroyed Enron, Arthur Andersen, thousands of employees' lives--and the integrity of American business.

Two Wall Street Journal beat reporters, who were covering stock swindlers and energy companies far from the analysts, fund managers, and bankers who had been Enron's biggest cheerleaders, uncovered the off-balance-sheet partnerships that had been used to hide Enron's losses.

This is the story of two Wall Street Journal beat reporters--one covering the energy industry just after the chaotic California electricity crisis; the other chasing stock swindlers. Together these journalists were ideally placed to uncover one of the great cons of the century. Here is a story about the fall of a great company and the practice of journalism, marked by skill, luck, and determination.

24 Days is the gripping, untold chronicle of the investigative process--often haphazard but imbued with insight and commitment--that broke through Enron's stonewalling and exposed its inner workings, setting in motion a chain of events that shook the public's trust in big business, Wall Street, and the accounting profession.

Acknowledgments xi

Prologue xiii

PART ONE

Red Sky Warning

"Our CEO Is Resigning." 3

"Who's Andy Fastow?" 12

"You Won't Believe What Skilling Just Told Me." 22

"I Have Found That Mr. Lay Doesn't Take Kindly

to Criticism." 31

"It Isn't a Conflict of Interest." 42

"You're Just Scratching the Surface." 47

"You Are About to Topple a $20B House of Cards." 57

"I Want to Be CFO of the Year." 67

"It's Okay to Have a Conflict." 76

"Make the Journal Go Away." 83

"He Would Have Done Nothing to Harm Enron." 89

"Amend My Last Statement." 94

"I'm Not Sure It Had a Name." 104

"You Missed Something That Could Be Really Big." 119

"Looks Like the SEC Read Your Stories." 134

"There ls an Appearance That You Are Hiding Something." 142

"I Must Have Heard the Term Death Spiral a Dozen Times

Today." 156

"Oh, I Expect to Be in the Office All Weekend." 172

"Those Liars!" 183

PART THREE

The Party's Over

"Does Ken Lay Know About This Meeting?" 193

"Don't Approach Their People Again." 210

"At Least We're Going to Be Part of the Biggest

Bankruptcy Ever!" 220

"Laydoff.com" 228

PART FOUR

Aftershocks and Revelations

"There Will Be Something Else Fun and Exciting on the

Other Side." 241

"Enron Has a Problem You May Want to Write About." 258

"I Really Got Sucked into This One." 271

"We Notified Enron's Audit Committee of Possible Illegal Acts

Within the Company." 278

"Do You Guys Have a Shredder Here?" 286

"I Didn't Look Closely. I Didn't Want to Know Too Much." 296

"You've Got to Be Kidding Me." 306

"I Feel I Just Can't Go On." 313

"There Was a Young Turk Arrogance." 329

"Next Time Fastow Is Going to Run a Racket, I Want to Be

Part of It." 341

"Often He Was Just Goofy."   345

PART FIVE

The Peep Walk

"The Arrogance. The Lack of Accountability." 353

"Enron's CFO, Kopper, and Others Devised a Scheme to Defraud

Enron and Its Shareholders." 363

"Americans Only Learn from Catastrophe and Not

Experience." 373

Index 383