Arthur Andersen LLP v. United States
Once upon a time, there was a big company called Arthur Andersen. They helped other big companies with their accounting, which means they kept track of money and made sure everything was done correctly.
One day, the government (the people who make rules for the country) got upset with Arthur Andersen because they thought the company did something illegal with one of their clients called Enron. Enron was a big company that went bankrupt (which means they lost all their money) because they did bad things.
The government said that Arthur Andersen destroyed some important documents to cover up what happened with Enron. That means they got rid of some pieces of paper that had important information on them. Destroying documents like that is bad and against the rules.
So, the government took Arthur Andersen to court, which is like going to a place where a judge makes a decision about whether or not someone did something wrong. The judge decided that Arthur Andersen did do something wrong, and they were found guilty.
Because Arthur Andersen was found guilty, they had to stop doing their job and they went out of business. That means they had to close their doors and everyone who worked there lost their jobs.
The end.
One day, the government (the people who make rules for the country) got upset with Arthur Andersen because they thought the company did something illegal with one of their clients called Enron. Enron was a big company that went bankrupt (which means they lost all their money) because they did bad things.
The government said that Arthur Andersen destroyed some important documents to cover up what happened with Enron. That means they got rid of some pieces of paper that had important information on them. Destroying documents like that is bad and against the rules.
So, the government took Arthur Andersen to court, which is like going to a place where a judge makes a decision about whether or not someone did something wrong. The judge decided that Arthur Andersen did do something wrong, and they were found guilty.
Because Arthur Andersen was found guilty, they had to stop doing their job and they went out of business. That means they had to close their doors and everyone who worked there lost their jobs.
The end.