ECONOMICS REPORT - Enron Officials in Court

ECONOMICS REPORT - Enron Officials in Court
By Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Friday, January 30, 2004

This is Bob Doughty¹ with the VOA Special English Economics Report.

The large American energy services company, Enron, failed two years ago. It had been the seventh largest company in the United States. More than twenty people have been charged with financial crimes related to the company's hidden debt, inflated² profits and accounting³ tricks.

On January twenty-second, Enron's former chief accounting officer faced charges of helping⁴ Enron cheat investors⁵ and others. Richard Causey said he is not guilty. He says he believed all of Enron's financial records were correct. He says he followed rules called the Generally Accepted Accounting Standards.

The government says Mister Causey used his knowledge of accounting to make Enron look profitable. The government says Mister Causey sought to gain from his actions by causing the price of Enron stock to increase.The government has charged Mister Causey with planning businesses related to Enron, called partnerships⁸. Enron used financial exchanges with partnerships to hide big financial losses. The government says these exchanges do not meet the requirements for real business exchanges. This is because only Enron's money was at risk.

Mister Causey is an important person in the Enron case. The charges came soon after another top official of Enron agreed to a deal.

Andrew Fastow was the chief financial officer at Enron. On January fourteenth, he admitted guilt⁶ for two criminal acts. He will be sentenced to ten years in prison. Fastow had faced more than ninety separate charges. The deal depends on evidence he will offer in the future.

Fastow admitted that he hid the financial situation at Enron by using partnerships. He admitted using partnerships for his own gain. He has been forced to return more than twenty-three-million dollars and other property to the government. Lea Fastow, Mister Fastow's wife, also admitted to one charge of avoiding taxes on money made from one partnership⁷.

Fastow and other former Enron officials have admitted guilt. They are expected to give evidence that will be used against Mister Causey.

What is different between the two cases is that Mister Fastow has admitted to cheating Enron. Mister Causey is charged with cheating investors and others.

This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter. This is Bob Doughty.

1 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

2 inflated   

adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨

参考例句：

• He has an inflated sense of his own importance. 他自视过高。
• They all seem to take an inflated view of their collective identity. 他们对自己的集体身份似乎都持有一种夸大的看法。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

6 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

7 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

8 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句