The Court found that the jury instructions did not properly portray the law Arthur Andersen was charged with breaking.

The indictment was served by Michael Chertoff, who was subsequently appointed Secretary of Homeland Security by President George W. Bush.

Since federal regulations do not allow convicted felons to audit public companies, Andersen surrendered its CPA license on August 31, effectively putting the firm out of business in the United States.

Arthur Andersen managers did instruct their employees to delete Enron-related files, but those actions were within their document retention policy.

In the court's view, the instructions allowed the jury to convict Andersen without proving that the firm knew it had broken the law or that there had been a link to any official proceeding that prohibited the destruction of documents.