Andersen’s Obstruction-of-Justice Conviction Is Upheld

Arthur Andersen’s obstruction-of-justice conviction over its mishandling of Enron Corp’s financial records was upheld by a federal judge.

U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon in Houston denied the accounting firm’s motion to dismiss the case or grant a new trial. Andersen was accused of shredding documents to keep them from investigators, and jurors said after the trial that they based their decision on an altered internal memo.

The accounting firm’s conviction prevented it from conducting audits, and on Aug. 31 the company ceased auditing. It already had lost hundreds of clients since Enron’s Dec. 2 bankruptcy filing after the energy trader’s restatement of earnings to account for unreported losses of $586 million during the previous 4 1/2 years.

“The fact that six jurors spoke eagerly to the press concerning their views of the evidence” does not “present evidence of extraneous influence of the type of extraordinary prejudice that would allow the court to open to scrutiny the deliberation process,” Harmon wrote in a decision signed Wednesday.

Patrick Dorton, spokesman for Andersen, said the accounting firm plans to appeal.