Sean M. Berkowitz

Sean M. Berkowitz (born 1967) is the former director of the Enron Task Force. He was tasked with prosecuting former employees of Enron who were thought to have engaged in white collar crime, principally accounting fraud. He was lead prosecutor in the joint trial of Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. In 2006, shortly after securing guilty verdicts against both, Berkowitz left the Department of Justice to become a partner at Latham & Watkins LLP in Chicago.

Berkowitz was assigned to the Task Force in December 2003 from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois, where he led many high-profile prosecutions of white collar crime and corporate fraud. Prior to his five years at the United States Department of Justice, Berkowitz worked for the law firm Katten Muchin Zavis, now Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, in Chicago, Illinois.

Lay and Skilling trial

Berkowitz cross-examined Jeffrey K. Skilling (Enron President and COO), sending the former CEO into a temper on the stand. He was also the ending voice for the prosecution as he concluded the government’s closing arguments to the jury by urging them to send a message to Lay and Skilling that “you can’t buy justice, you have to earn it.

In his closing arguments, Berkowitz used a large black and white cardboard display with the word "truth" emblazoned on one side and "lies" on other side. "You get to decide whether they told truth or lies, black and white," he told the jury. "Don't let the defendants, with their high-paid experts and their lawyers, buy their way out of this," he said. "I'm asking you to send them a message that it's not all right. You can't buy justice; you have to earn it."

On May 25, 2006, after the jury found both Skilling and Lay guilty, Berkowitz scolded the Enron executives, saying that "you can't lie to shareholders, you can't put yourselves in front of your employees' interests. No matter how rich and powerful you are, you have to play by the rules." Berkowitz noted the FBI spent five years investigating the Enron case and that his team spent many long nights working on the trial, warning other executives who think about committing fraud that "no matter now complicated or sophisticated a case may be, people like that stand ready to investigate."

Education

Berkowitz graduated "cum laude" from Harvard Law School in 1992 and "summa cum laude" from Tulane University (with a Dean's Honor Scholarship) in 1989.

He was an avid high school debater at Glenbrook North High School (class of 1985). He won the Glenbrook North Distinguished Alumnus Award on May 25, 2007.

Personal

Berkowitz married Bethany McLean, a Fortune magazine editor, in May 2008.

External links

* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/17/AR2006011701554.html "Washington Post" article on the Task Force]
* [http://www.enron.com The Enron homepage]