|
Mrs PR, The Press Release Archive Home | Search | Releases | Submit | Resources | Sitemap |
Email this Page
Print this page
Bookmark this page
Latham Wins Supreme Court Case Overturning Arthur Andersen's Criminal Conviction
WASHINGTON, May 31, 2005
In a decision widely regarded as having a profound impact on the way in which business is conducted throughout the United States, the accounting firm Arthur Andersen LLP has prevailed in its appeal to the Supreme Court of a conviction on charges related to its work for Enron (Case No. 04-368, Arthur Andersen LLP vs. United States). In a unanimous opinion written by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, the Supreme Court reversed and remanded for further proceedings a Court of Appeals decision that had upheld Andersen's conviction for "corruptly persuading" employees to discard documents pursuant to terms of its document retention policy. "Only persons conscious of wrongdoing can be said to 'knowingly (and) ... corruptly persuade'," said the Opinion of the Court, citing the statute under which Andersen was indicted. "The jury instruction failed to convey the requisite consciousness of wrongdoing. Indeed, it is striking how little culpability the instruction required."
The case was argued by Maureen Mahoney, a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Latham & Watkins LLP, who worked with Andersen's counsel and attorneys of the firm's appellate and constitutional practice. Mahoney commented: "We are very grateful that the Supreme Court has reversed Andersen's conviction. Hopefully, this decision begins to thaw some of the chilling effects on routine business functions that resulted in the wake of Andersen's conviction."
A Texas federal court jury had convicted Arthur Andersen in June 2002 of obstructing an official proceeding of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the federal Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the conviction prior to the Supreme Court agreeing to hear the case.
Source: Latham & Watkins LLP
CONTACT: Geoff Burt, +1-212-906-1668, geoff.burt@lw.com, or Frank
Pizzurro, +1-213-891-7276, frank.pizzurro@lw.com, both of Latham & Watkins
LLP
mrspr.com > Home Releases Business
Home | Search | Releases | Submit | Resources | Sitemap Terms of use | Privacy Policy | About Us | © 2005, MrsPR.com All rights reserved. |