done with minor expenditure of labor by lower-level employees. After all was said and done, Enron used Chewco to report roughly $400 million in nominal profits, while concealing $600 million in debt. In November 2001, accountants Arthur Andersen discovered a two-page letter detailing a side deal in which Enron put up cash collateral to ostensibly give Chewco the outside equity it required for SPE status. As part of the deal, JEDI was to make a $6 million distribution to a reserve account in order to secure part of the loan from Barclays. As a result, Barclays no longer had the money at risk. Since Fastow had created Chewco with exactly three percent outside equity, the Barclays loan left Chewco at least $6 million short of the threshold. Based on these discoveries, Andersen told former SEC enforcement chief Bill McLucas, who was leading the internal investigation into the matter, that Chewco and "everything that touched Chewco"–including JEDI–did not qualify for off-balance sheet treatment. As a result, Chewco and JEDI would have to be retroactively consolidated onto Enron's books, forcing Enron to restate its earnings all the way back to 1997, the date of Chewco's creation. It also emerged that Chewco would not have qualified as an SPE even if it met the equity requirement. Kopper was still employed at Enron at the time he took control of Chewco, and tried to disguise his role by putting his controlling stake in the hand of his domestic partner, Bill Dodson. The ensuing restatement was a primary catalyst for Enron's bankruptcy in December. References 2000s economic history Accounting scandals Enron scandal Corruption in the United States George W. Bush administration controversies 2001 in economics Corporate scandals 2001 crimes in the United States Corporate crime Finance fraud Enron