After the shock, a year of fallout

Enron: Chronology

2 December: Enron files for bankruptcy protection.

10 January: US Justice Department opens criminal investigation. Enron's auditor, Andersen, admits to shredding thousands of documents.

23 January: Kenneth Lay, Enron chairman, resigns.

25 January: Former Enron executive Cliff Baxter found dead.

31 January: Former Enron non-executive director Lord Wakeham resigns as chairman of the Press Complaints Commission.

7 February: Jeffrey Skilling, former chief executive, tells Congress he knew nothing of Enron's fraud.

12 February: Lay pleads Fifth Amendment.

14 February: Sherron Watkins, former Enron vice-president, reveals she sent Lay a memo outlining her concerns about the company's accounts.

2 March: Skilling marries Rebecca Carter, Enron's former corporate secretary.

25 March: Enron sells Wessex Water to YTL Power of Malaysia. Wessex chairman and chief executive Colin Skellett is later arrested in the UK over bribe allegations. The case is still being investigated.

9 April: David Duncan, Andersen's auditor with responsibility for Enron, strikes plea bargain with the Justice Department and pleads guilty to obstructing justice.

15 June: Andersen convicted of obstructing justice.

26 June: WorldCom reveals the first of a series of black holes in its accounts, now a gaping $9bn.

28 June: Xerox admits having exaggerated profits by $2bn.

30 July: Tough new US rules on corporate governance become law, forcing company chiefs to swear by their accounts.

21 August: Michael Kopper, who worked in Enron's finance department, pleads guilty to charges of money-laundering and fraud.

6 November: Harvey Pitt, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the US regulator, resigns.

10 November: Andrew Fastow, Enron's chief financial officer, is charged with 78 counts of fraud and money-laundering.

27 November: Lawrence Lawyer, an Enron manager, pleads guilty to falsifying tax returns for an Enron partnership.