By newsfirstusa 
HOUSTON — An elaborate parody seems to be at the back of an aim to resurrect Enron, the Houston-based power corporate that exemplified the worst in American company fraud and greed then it went bankrupt in 2001.
If its go back is comedic, some former employees who misplaced the whole lot in Enron’s fall down aren’t giggling.
“It’s a pretty sick joke and it disparages the people that did work there. And why would you want to even bring it back up again?” mentioned former Enron worker Diana Peters, who represented employees within the corporate’s chapter complaints.
Right here’s what to grasp in regards to the historical past of Enron and the purported aim to deliver it again.
As soon as the public’s seventh-largest corporate, Enron filed for chapter coverage on Dec. 2, 2001, then years of accounting methods may now not cover billions of greenbacks in debt or build failing ventures seem winning. The power corporate’s fall down put greater than 5,000 public out of labor, burnt up greater than $2 billion in worker pensions and rendered $60 billion in Enron retain nugatory. Its aftershocks had been felt all the way through the power sector.
Twenty-four Enron executives, together with former CEO Jeffrey Skilling, had been in the end convicted for his or her roles within the fraud. Enron founder Ken Lay’s convictions had been vacated then he died of middle disorder following his 2006 trial.
On Monday — the twenty third per annum of the chapter submitting — an organization representing itself as Enron introduced in a information let fall that it used to be relaunching as a “company dedicated to solving the global energy crisis.” It additionally posted a video on social media, marketed on a minimum of one Houston billboard and a took out a full-page advert within the Houston Chronicle
Within the minute-long video that used to be filled with generic company jargon, the corporate talks about “growth” and “rebirth.” It ends with the phrases, “We’re back. Can we talk?”
Enron’s pristine site includes a corporate pack, the place diverse pieces that includes the emblem’s tilted “E” emblem are on the market, together with a $118 hoodie.
In an electronic mail, corporate spokesperson Will Chabot mentioned the pristine Enron used to be no longer doing any interviews but, however that “We’ll have more to share soon.”
Signs point to the comeback being a joke.
In the “terms of use and conditions of sale” on the company’s website, it says “the information on the website about Enron is First Amendment protected parody, represents performance art, and is for entertainment purposes only.”
Documents filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office show that College Company, an Arkansas-based LLC, owns the Enron trademark. The co-founder of College Company is Connor Gaydos, who helped create a joke conspiracy theory that claims all birds are actually surveillance drones for the government.
Peters said that since learning about the “relaunch” of Enron, she has spoken with several other former employees and they are also upset by it. She said the apparent stunt was “in poor taste.”
“If it’s a joke, it’s rude, extremely rude. And I hope that they realize it and apologize to all of the Enron employees,” Peters said.
Peters, who is 74 years old, said she is still working in information technology because “I lost everything in Enron, and so my Social Security doesn’t always take care of things I need done.”
“Enron’s downfall taught us critical lessons about corporate ethics, accountability, and the consequences of unchecked ambition. Enron’s legacy was the employees in the trenches. Leave Enron buried,” she said.
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This story was corrected to fix the spelling of Ken Lay’s first name, which had been misspelled “Key.”
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Apply Juan A. Lozano on X at https://x.com/juanlozano70