21. Research the Enron Fraud

Question:

In the coming lessons, we’ll talk about how the best features are often motivated by our human understanding of the problem at hand. In this case, that means knowing a little about the story of the Enron fraud.

If you have an hour and a half to spare, “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room” is a documentary that gives an amazing overview of the story. Alternatively, there are plenty of archival newspaper stories that chronicle the rise and fall of Enron.

Which of these schemes was Enron not involved in?

selling assets to shell companies at the end of each month, and buying them back at the beginning of the next month to hide accounting losses

causing electrical grid failures in California

illegally obtained a government report that enabled them to corner the market on frozen concentrated orange juice futures

conspiring to give a Saudi prince expedited American citizenship

a plan in collaboration with Blockbuster movies to stream movies over the internet