Timeline | Enron's collapse and the fallout

1985-2000

1985 — Houston Natural Gas merges with InterNorth to form Enron; HNG CEO Kenneth Lay becomes CEO of combined company the following year.

1989 — Enron begins trading natural-gas commodities.

1990 — Lay hires Jeffrey Skilling to lead the company's effort to focus on commodities trading in the deregulated markets. Andrew Fastow is one of Skilling's first hires later that year.

1991 — Richard Causey leaves Arthur Andersen to join Enron as assistant controller.

1997 — Skilling named president and chief operating officer of Enron. Fastow creates Chewco, a partnership, to buy the University of California pension fund's stake in another joint venture dubbed JEDI, but Chewco doesn't meet requirements to be kept off Enron's balance sheet. First step toward similar financial moves to hide debt and inflate profits that fuel Enron's downfall.

1998 — Fastow named finance chief.

1999 — Causey named chief accounting officer. Fastow creates the first of two partnerships, LJM, purported to "buy" poorly performing Enron assets and hedge risky investments but really helps the company hide debt and inflate profits. Enron directors approve Fastow's plan that he run the partnerships that do deals with Enron while continuing as Enron's finance chief. Causey and former Chief Risk Officer Rick Buy assigned to monitor such deals to protect Enron's interests.

December 2000 — Enron announces that Skilling, then president and chief operating officer, will succeed Lay as CEO in February. Lay will remain as chairman.

2001

Aug. 14 — Skilling resigns; Lay named CEO again.

Aug. 22 — Finance executive Sherron Watkins meets privately with Lay to discuss concerns of murky finance and accounting that could ruin the company.

Oct. 16 — Enron announces $638 million in third-quarter losses and a $1.2 billion reduction in shareholder equity stemming from write-offs related to failed broadband and water-trading ventures as well as unwinding of so-called Raptors, or fragile entities backed by falling Enron stock created to hedge inflated asset values and keep hundreds of millions of dollars in debt off the energy company's books.

Oct. 19 — Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launches inquiry into Enron finances.

Oct. 22 — Enron acknowledges SEC inquiry into a possible conflict of interest related to the company's dealings with Fastow's partnerships.

Oct. 24 — Fastow ousted.

Nov. 5 — Enron Treasurer Ben Glisan Jr. and in-house attorney Kristina Mordaunt fired for investing in Fastow-run partnership. Each invested $5,800 in 2001 and received a $1 million return a few weeks later.

Nov. 8 — Enron files documents with SEC revising its financial statements for previous five years to account for $586 million in losses.

Nov. 9 — Dynegy announces an agreement to buy Enron for more than $8 billion in stock.

Nov. 19 — Enron restates its third-quarter earnings and discloses a $690 million debt is due Nov. 27.

Nov. 28 — Enron stock plunges below $1 as Dynegy aborts its plan to buy its former rival.

Dec. 2 — Enron goes bankrupt; thousands of workers laid off.

2002

Jan. 9 — Justice Department confirms it has begun a criminal investigation of Enron.

Jan. 10 — The White House discloses Lay sought help from two Cabinet members shortly before the company collapsed, but neither offered aid. Company auditor Arthur Andersen says it has destroyed tons of Enron documents.

Jan. 23 — Lay resigns as chairman and CEO.

Jan. 25 — Cliff Baxter, former head of Enron's trading unit and later vice president before his resignation in May 2001, found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Feb. 4 — Lay resigns from the board.

March 14 — Former Enron auditing firm Arthur Andersen indicted for destroying Enron-related documents to thwart investigators.

June 15 — Arthur Andersen convicted.

Oct. 31 — Fastow indicted on 78 charges of conspiracy, fraud, money laundering and other counts.

2003

April 30 — Counts against Fastow increased to 98, while his wife, Lea, is charged with tax crimes and conspiracy for participating in some of husband's deals.

2004

Jan. 14 — Andrew Fastow pleads guilty to two counts of conspiracy and agrees to serve 10 years in prison after prosecutors no longer need his cooperation.

May 6 — Lea Fastow pleads guilty to a reduced charge of filing a false tax form, a misdemeanor, and is sentenced to the maximum sentence of one year in prison.

July 7 — Lay indicted. He surrenders to FBI the next day.

July 15 — Bankruptcy judge confirms Enron's reorganization plan in which most creditors will receive about one-fifth of the approximately $63 million they're owed in cash and stock.

2005

Feb. 24 — A federal judge schedules the Lay, Skilling and Causey trial for Jan. 17, 2006.

May 31 — U.S. Supreme Court overturns former Arthur Andersen conviction, ruling unanimously that vague jury instructions allowed jurors to convict without finding criminal intent behind mass document destruction. The government said in November 2005 that prosecutors will not retry the firm, reduced to about 200 workers from 28,000 who mainly handle pending lawsuits.

Dec. 28 — Causey pleads guilty to securities fraud and agrees to serve seven years in prison in exchange for cooperating with the government. U.S. District Judge Sim Lake reschedules the Lay/Skilling trial for Jan. 30.

The Associated Press