APPENDIX 1 Born in 1953 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Skilling graduated from Harvard in 1979 and began his career at Enron

in 1990 as Chairman and CEO of Enron Finance Corp. In 1991, he became the chairman of Enron Gas Services and was promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer of Enron in 1997. In 2001, Skilling was made CEO of Enron, a post he held till his resignation in August 2001 (McLean and Elkind, 2003). After the demise of Enron, Skilling was indicted on 35 counts of fraud, insider trading, and other crimes related to the collapse to which he pleaded not guilty. The indictments were primarily focused on his probable knowledge of, and likely direct involvement with, the fraudulent transactions within Enron (Gore and Murthy, 2011). A month after quitting Enron, Skilling sold $60 million of his stake in the company, leading to the prosecutors' allegation that he did so with inside information of Enron's impending bankruptcy. The trial which lasted from January-May 2006 returned guilty verdicts on charges of conspiracy, insider trading, making false statements to auditors, and securities fraud. Skilling was sentenced to 24 years and 4 months in prison, and fined $45 million, although the case is currently under appeal (Gore and Murthy, 2011). Throughout his trial, Skilling stated that he had "no knowledge" of the complicated chain of events that would eventually result in Enron's bankruptcy (Li, 2010). This claim by an executive who is well educated in the craft and says he had no knowledge of the malfeasance that transpired appears unbelievable. From a moral perspective, this statement would sound at best absurd, or worst a blatant lie (Henderson et al., 2009). Skilling played a large role in the meteoric rise, and dramatic decline, of Enron, so much so that he received $132 million a year as salary (Healy and Palepu, 2003). According to Watkins (2003), through his actions in the company, Skilling became known internally as a master of the energy universe who had the ability to control peoples minds. He was at the peak of his strength, and he intimidated everyone. On the other side, Skilling and his attorneys in an appeal to the US Supreme Court in 2008 argued honest services fraud based on the idea that even though Skilling committed illegal financial manoeuvres, he did so in order to save the company and did not profit from it. Nonetheless, the court rejected this line of defence and upheld his earlier conviction (Gore and Murthy, 2011).

APPENDIX 2

Lay was born in Tyrone, Missouri in 1942 and graduated from the University of Missouri. After briefly working with the federal government in the 1970s, he entered the corporate world and took advantage of energy deregulation to form Houston Natural Gas. In 1985, after the Internorth merger, Lay became the CEO of the newly-formed Enron (McLean and Elkind, 2003). A particularly ironic example of deception and dishonesty promoted by Lay was the 64-page code of ethics named RICE (Respect, Integrity, Communication and Excellence) which was issued barely 18 months prior to Enrons collapse. In the foreword, Lay declares his pride of Enrons reputation for fairness, honesty, and respect and vows to keep that high. However, at the same time, he disregarded this code in his daily activities. In that same year, Human Rights Watch documented how Lay and other Enron executives had ordered and paid local law enforcement agencies to suppress legitimate and peaceful opposition to its power plant in India (Watkins, 2003). Nonetheless, some have found attenuating circumstances for Lay. After Skillings departure, Lay resumed day-to-day management of the company as CEO and was thus faced with the conspiracy orchestrated by others. He had no choice but to assume leadership of the situation, and his inability to continue the manipulation led to the collapse (Fox, 2003). As such, Lays lawyers portrayed him as the captain of a doomed ship (Li, 2010). To support this claim, during the trial, Lay claimed Enron stock represented about 90% of his wealth and after the collapse; his net worth was in the negative by $250,000. He insisted that Enron's collapse was due to a conspiracy waged by short sellers, rogue executives, and the news media (Li, 2010). Nothing best symbolises the dishonesty and disdain that Lay came to embody more than the fact that after his death, many claimed he was still alive and had in fact faked his death to escape prison (Gore and Murthy, 2011).