Desks of Enron Chiefs Auctioned for Animals

Lay, Sklling Desks Sold as 'Pop Culture' Collectibles

A Houston non-profit is looking to cash in on the infamy of that city's biggest business scandal by auctioning the desks from which Enron chieftains Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling directed the once high-flying company. According to the website Click2Houston for KRPC-TV News, proceeds from the sale will provide funds for spaying a neutering cats and dogs.

Bidding on eBay started at $25,000 each for the 20-year-old desks, which were donated to Saving Animals Across Borders by a group that bought Enron's Houston building after the company collapsed in 2001, according to The Houston Chronicle. The auction opened today and runs through March 28th.

"We feel a collector of American pop-cultural items might want these," Sean Hawkins, founder and president of Saving Animals, told KRPC.

Hawkins said the group accepted the desks because Enron had a history of supporting animal-welfare groups. The company and the Lay family made donations and provided office space for the Spay-Neuter Assistance Program.

"We felt that this was one last time that Enron could contribute to Houston," he said.

A news release on eBay said the desks were designed by Gensler Architects and made by Brochstein's, a manufacturer of custom architectural furniture. The desks, which have an "elegant Makore Pommelle veneer," would cost more than five-figures to replicate today, according to the news release.

Enron, once the nation's seventh-largest company, crumbled under the weight of the scams and schemes for which both men were convicted last summer. The collapse wiped out thousands of jobs, more than $60 billion in market value and more than $2 billion in pension plans.

We wouldn't know who to ask, but even if we did, we decided to use the Enron logo without permission. Hey, for what we paid for electricity a few years ago, it's the least we could do!