Corporate Titans of the 1990s and Their Lawyers Speak Out: "The Buck Stopped Somewhere Else"

Courtesy of BusinessWeek (7/26), here are some astounding quotes:

"Enron was an enormous corporation. Could I have known everything going on everywhere in the company?"

--Ken Lay, former Enron chairman and CEO

"You have to rely, you have to trust people. You have to believe. You have to delegate . . . I signed off on the information based on what was provided to me. And what I was told."

--Richard Scrushy, ex-HealthSouth chairman and CEO

"Bernie Ebbers did not know about the accounting decisions of Scott Sullivan to reassign billions of dollars."

--Reid Weingarten, attorney for former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers

"John Rigas had a right to trust and rely on professionals and his own staff to get the financials right."

--Peter Fleming, attorney for ex-Adelphia chairman John Rigas