The Saga of Lynn Brewer

When USA Today began their expose of Lynn Brewer, the self-proclaimed ‘former executive’ at Enron, they cast light on more than just a woman who was hungry for a little media attention. Indeed they cast light on a woman who proclaims to this day that she’s a criminal, and she’s sorry, and oh won’t the audiences who pay 13,000k to hear her speak, won’t they please forgive her?

Lynn Brewer claims to be a lot of things she’s not, and anyone with an interest can delve into the fascinating mental machinations of the woman. However, I’d like to focus on one aspect of Ms. Brewer’s personality: the fact that she claims, openly and publicly, to be a criminal. Reformed, yes, but a criminal nonetheless.

The Enron Task Force has a list of some hundred ‘unindicted co-conspiractors’ in the Enron case. Lawsuits continue – both civil and criminal. So why hasn’t Lynn Brewer been named in any lawsuit? Why hasn’t she, as far as we know, lawyered up? Why does she continue to apologize for her part in the Enron ‘crimes’ when there are good men serving time for things they really didn’t do? Why doesn’t she give back some millions that she’s made at Enron… oh, yeah. Her salary was about 70k per annum. Not exactly millionaire, wheeler-dealer, big time Enron exec money. The one exec who didn’t make a lot of money at Enron, treasurer Ben Glisan, made over half a million dollars per year in salary.

I suppose it’s difficult to pay back millions of ill-begotten fraud money if you’re earning a middle-America salary.

Lynn Brewer acts like a crazy person, not a smart, savvy criminal who is capable of organizing the financial vehicles that are at the center of the Enron controversy (and which I must point out are only controversial, not criminal). We can guess at her motivations for this. One of them is clearly money. After Enron’s collapse she started the modestly named Integrity Institute, and as stated above, charges 13k to speak on the subject of ethics. She claims to give about 200 speeches per year (stretching my Texas math, that would be 2,600,000$ pre tax dollars per year.) But I suspect that money is only part of it. My personal belief is that Ms. Brewer enjoys the patina of Enron. At its zenith, there was simply no better place to work. It was cool. The staid old pipeline business had suddenly become the only business in town. It was a place where machoism thrived, where one succeeded or failed on the merits (the merits being the ability to bring cash in the door). I think even after the company collapsed, there was a certain war-torn glamour about it, just like those who can say they worked in the World Trade Center have a sort of nostalgic charm. Maybe Lynn Brewer likes to imagine herself as high up on the fiftieth floor of Enron tower, devilishly conspiring with Andrew Fastow over Raptors or LJM2. One imagines it would indeed feel pretty cool, being smart enough to outwit not only everyone else but the entire US capitalist market. Too bad that never happened, and that the fraud, ironically enough, is the greatest illusion of all.

Enron 'Whistleblower' Sharron Watkins Speaks Out Against Other Enron 'Whistleblowers'

Inside trader Sharron Watkins, best known for her alibi letter to Ken Lay warning of an impending wave of ‘accounting scandals’, has come out swinging to defend her title as ‘Enron whistleblower’.

“I was the first person that really spent four hours telling Congress what I knew of Enron.  Many of the other executives pled the fifth,” says Watkins.(In fact, most did.  But Jeff Skilling, it should be noted, did not. )

However, now another woman has emerged with almost identical claims.  Lynn Brewer says she too was an Enron executive who blew the whistle on the company.  She even wrote a book, “Confessions of an Enron Executive: A Whistleblower’s Story.”  The trouble is, she may not be telling the whole truth.  According to a front page story in USA Today and an Inside Edition investigation, Brewer’s job title was several grades below what Enron considered an executive.  Plus, it’s reported she’s not much a whistleblower either.

“It reminds me of one of those movies, single white female or hand that rocks the cradle, I mean, in effect, she’s got my baby and she’s trying to nurse it,” Watkins told Inside Edition.

If Watkins phrasing doesn’t send you make you nauseaous, it should at least shed some light on the way Watkins is thinking: the Enron story is her baby? Why? What does that say about her?

Looking at the women side by side, there are striking similarities: Watkins is 48-years-old to Brewer’s 46, both have short blonde hair and both are known to wear scarves and power suits during public appearances.

Watkins says Brewer is a fraud, who has stolen her story and used it to make a fortune giving speeches all over the world. The story of course belongs to everyone, just as 9/11 belongs to everyone.

Inside Edition caught up with Lynn Brewer in between speaking engagements.  She lectures business leaders on ethics, and charges a cool $13,000 per speech.

Brewer tells Inside Edition that she has not, in any way, misrepresented herself to the public. 

Brewer actually did work at Enron, from 1998 until late 2000, a year before the scandal erupted.  Brewer’s employment at Enron ultimately ended after a dispute about expense account reports.  However, during her tenure at the company, her former colleagues say she was not an executive, but instead a mid-level researcher who analyzed legal documents.  Brewer defends herself, saying, “I led a team. I traveled all over, led training sessions. It’s about responsibilities, it’s not about a title.”

Regarding claims of being a whistleblower, Brewer says she tried to warn others inside the company of accounting irregularities and even anonymously called a Seattle radio station in the summer of 2001, before Sherron Watkins surfaced, but no one really took any notice. 

This whole story makes me ill. Sharron Watkins is not a hero; Lynn Brewer is definitely a fraud; there was no conspiracy or fraud at Enron, except for a few projects directly under Andrew Fastow’s control and about which neither Ken Lay or Jeff Skilling knew.

Tom Skilling Sings Christmas Carols

Brilliant!  Love him!