"I Am Arthur Andersen" shirt
date: label: date made
content: 2002
name: label: maker
content: Anvil
notes: label: Description
content: This shirt was worn at a 2002 rally supporting the Arthur Andersen company, which had been indicted for destroying documents to shield their client Enron. Enron was an energy company which used duplicitous accounting practices to hide hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. In 2001, Enron’s true financial state was uncovered, and the company went bankrupt. Enron had held more than $60 billion in assets, so its bankruptcy was one of the largest in U.S. history.
label: Description
content: Arthur Andersen LLP, an accounting firm, was the auditor for Enron. Andersen was at the time one of the “big five” largest accounting firms, employing over 20,000 workers in the US and almost 85,000 worldwide. Officials at Andersen had shredded thousands of documents and tens of thousands of emails related to Enron. This hindered the government’s investigation into Enron’s collapse, and consequently Andersen was charged with obstruction of justice. In 2002, a jury in Houston convicted Andersen, which led to the firm’s collapse and job loss for all Andersen employees. During the trial, Andersen employees held this rally outside the Houston courthouse in support of their company, wearing orange and black shirt like these that said “I am Arthur Andersen.”
label: Description
content: This scandal led Congress to pass the Sarbanes-Oxley act to reform financial reporting practices. In 2005, the Supreme Court unanimously overturned Andersen’s conviction, ruling that the judge’s instructions to the jury had been too vague and that lawyers had some ability to destroy sensitive documents. However, the decision came too late to restore the firm.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Marc E. Andersen
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2002.0163.01
label: catalog number
content: 2002.0163.01
label: accession number
content: 2002.0163
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Shirt
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 33 in x 26 in; 83.82 cm x 66.04 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 32 1/2 in x 24 1/2 in; 82.55 cm x 62.23 cm