Kenneth Lay
Am I a fool? I don't think I'm a fool. But I think I sure was fooled.
The last thing I would have ever expected to happen to me in my life would be that, in fact, I would be accused of doing something wrong and maybe even something criminal.
There are no accounting issues, no trading issues, no reserve issues, no previously unknown problem issues.
But I can't take responsibility for criminal conduct of somebody inside the company.
We need someone who is a strong representative of our value system.
I take full responsibility for what happened at Enron. But saying that, I know in my mind that I did nothing criminal.
There are absolutely no problems that had anything to do with Jeff's departure.
We don't break the law.
Jeff knew full well what he was walking away from. Again, he needed to deal with this right away.
Investors don't like uncertainty.
When there's uncertainty they always think there's another shoe to fall. There is no other shoe to fall.
Any slots at the senior level, including CEO or other slots, will be filled internally.
I have to take responsibility for anything that happened within its businesses.
I mean, our primary businesses in wholesale pipelines, utilities, retail, were all doing extremely well.
But the most important thing is, Enron did not cause the California crisis.
Our liquidity is fine. As a matter of fact, it's better than fine. It's strong.
But certainly I didn't know he was doing anything that was criminal.
I don't think I'm a criminal, number one.
Trillions of dollars every day are being exchanged around the world in all of the financial markets.
Today, there are also buyers and sellers of all these energy commodities, just like there are buyers and sellers of food commodities and many other commodities.
We use competitive markets to arrange for delivery of our food supply.
The problems in California have been that it's been very difficult to site and build new power plants.
Well, rates would go up whether you deregulate or not, and of course, the rates that are going up right now on the electricity side are still within the regulated framework.
You'll have lower prices under deregulation than you will through regulation.
We see ourselves as first helping to open up markets to competition.
The transmission systems are still regulated.
You'd rather have a surplus versus a shortage in your position.
In the case of Enron, we balance our positions all the time.
I've been a strong financial and political supporter of, first, President Bush Sr. when he was running for president, and even when he ran for president a time or two and failed.
I have faith in the market when we get the rules right.
But indeed a market like California is not good for Enron.
We've tried to get as much supply into California as we can.
Every market is in transition.
They can't do without electricity. They can do with less electricity.
I threw my whole life and lived my life in a certain way to make sure that I would never violate any law.. certainly never any criminal laws.. and always maintained that most important to me was my integrity, was my character, were my values.Collection: Integrity
Aggressive accounting does not mean illegal accounting.Collection: Mean
I've not only pursued the American dream, I've achieved it. I suppose we could say the last few years, I've also achieved the American nightmare.Collection: Dream
The collapse of Enron and the subsequent collapse of Arthur Andersen were tremendous tragedies. But as I stated at the time of my indictment on July 8, 2004, failure does not equate to a crime.Collection: Failure
I take responsibility for what happened at Enron, both good and bad. But I cannot take responsibility for criminal conduct that I was unaware of.Collection: Mistake
I always took my role as a leader, and certainly chairman and CEO of a major company very seriously as to our employees and trying to create opportunities for them and create opportunities where they could even, as I said many times, could realize their God-given potential and maybe realize more potential than even they realize they had.Collection: Opportunity
I don't fear jail because I know I'm not guilty. I know I did nothing wrong. I did nothing criminal and I also believe my God will get me through this.Collection: Mistake
If there is anything material and we're not reporting it, we'll be breaking the law. We don't break the law.Collection: Law
We're (also) looking for a good people person who is able to motivate others and get strong performances out of people.Collection: Strong
We will cooperate fully with the SEC and look forward to the opportunity to put any concern about these transactions to rest.Collection: Opportunity
It's been very interesting. We've seen a lot of interesting testimony. We've seen a lot of interesting people, a lot of allegations, a lot of lies, a lot of misinformation and some truth.Collection: Lying