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Sherron Watkins, Former Vice President, Enron Global Finance

Sherron Watkins, a vice president of global finance, warned Lay about the company's "funny" accounting.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
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Sherron Watkins, a vice president of global finance, warned Lay about the company's "funny" accounting.

Like many of Enron's top executives, Sherron Watkins had worked as an Enron business partner before being spotted and brought into the Enron fold. She'd been an auditor at Arthur Andersen, Enron's primary accountant. At Enron, Watkins reported to Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow.

After CEO Jeff Skilling suddenly left the company in August of 2001, Watkins wrote a letter to Ken Lay, who had come back to resume control of the company. In the letter she outlined for Lay how many of Enron's assets were over-valued and based on "funny" accounting. She said she was afraid the company would "implode in a wave of accounting scandals." Watkins testified before Congress in 2002.

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