Conspiracy of Fools Quotes

“Excuse me, Ben," Bowen said. "Am I wrong, or aren't you the corporate treasurer?"
Glisan bristled. "Yes."
"What do you mean, you think you can get one?" Bowen shot back. "This is the current fucking maturities schedule! Go get it. You have to have a maturities schedule!"
But they didn't. With all the focus on deals and earnings- with finance group's transformation into a profit center rather than a division to support the business- the workday, boring details had been sloughed off.
p. 560”
― Kurt Eichenwald, Conspiracy of Fools

“Kaminski plunged ahead. "I am not going to sign off on anything related to the Raptors," he said. "And I don't care if I'm fired for it."
Buy raised a hand. "Whoa, wait a minute, I don't think you'll be fired," he replied quickly. "Now that Skilling's gone, we have a different mantra in Enron."
He looked Kaminski in the eye. "We're expected to be honest", he said.
p.525”
― Kurt Eichenwald, Conspiracy of Fools

“In a market, preceptions could be as important as reality.
p.403”
― Kurt Eichenwald, Conspiracy of Fools

“A eureka moment. It suddenly struck Mintz as so obvious. The executives entrusted with reviewing all of the LJM transactions- Causey, Buy, the board- approached their duties casually, giving everything just the onceover. They seemed to figure that somebody else was doing the tough analysis. But no one was.
p.389”
― Kurt Eichenwald, Conspiracy of Fools

“...Fastow had found someone trusting and pliable.
Fastow wanted a pupet, Bowen concluded, and he already controlled Ben Glisan's strings.
p.338”
― Kurt Eichenwald, Conspiracy of Fools

“Enron would keep its unearned windfall, generated solely because David Duncan didn't know what he was doing.”
― Kurt Eichenwald, Conspiracy of Fools

“Enron was becoming a virtual cult of creativity, often placing swagger over substance. New ideas were celebrated for their newness, for their potential; tried and true businesses like the pipelines were almost derided.”
― Kurt Eichenwald, Conspiracy of Fools

“What e-mail was Ryan Siurek talking about? Siurek, an architect on the Raptors, had been speaking with Andersen accountants about some technical detail involving $1.2 billion booked as “notes receivable” from the Raptors, or commitments to pay Enron, which related to the company’s agreement to contribute stock to the entities. That had resulted in Enron’s increasing its reported equity by the same amount. Siurek said he had raised the issue during the March restructuring in an e-mail to Patricia Grutzmacher, a member of the Andersen team.”
― Kurt Eichenwald, Conspiracy of Fools

“You appreciate that?” Skilling glanced up, looking around at the others with him in the room. He wanted the last word. “Asshole.” Palmer almost fell over. Did he hear that right? Enron’s chief executive had just called someone an asshole? On an open line? On an analysts’ call? He jumped out of his chair. He needed to get upstairs.”
― Kurt Eichenwald, Conspiracy of Fools

“trumpeting the quarter’s performance. After that came the question period. It started predictably enough, with requests for information about run-of-the-mill operating matters. Then the operator called on the next questioner. “Richard Grubman, of Highfield Capital.” As Skilling stared at the speakerphone, Mark Koenig, the investor-relations chief, began scrawling a note. Grubman asked what the balances of assets and liabilities were in the trading business”
― Kurt Eichenwald, Conspiracy of Fools