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Comment by hn_throwaway_99 | Hacker News Reader

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hn_throwaway_99·

> the massive criminal conspiracy they were convicted of

Not disagreeing with the sentiment, but the conviction was unanimously overturned by the Supreme Court.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Andersen_LLP_v._Unite...

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As noted in the Wiki article, it was overturned essentially on procedural grounds based on how the jury was instructed. The government could have retried the case with the higher burden of proving willful misconduct by Andersen but by that point the firm was already dead from reputational damage, so I suppose justice was served anyway.

“During the fall of Enron, Arthur Andersen, Enron's accounting firm, instructed its employees to destroy documents relating to Enron after Andersen officials learned they would soon be investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.”

On that alone I’m surprised how it was unanimous on over turn for the Supreme Court. Obviously the documents did not show them in a good light.

The role of appellate courts is generally not to judge the facts of the case, but to judge whether the law has been applied correctly.

If you got convicted because the prosecutor and the trial judge didn't know what the law was, that's not right. That's what the Supreme Court decision here was about, not about whether or not Arthur Andersen had committed a crime.

In many cases, having your verdict overturned doesn't preclude the prosecutor from trying the case again.

Another botched case by the liberal hero Andrew Weismann.

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