The collapse of energy giant Enron is the largest bankruptcy and one of the most shocking failures in United States corporate history.

In just a little over 15 years, Enron grew into one of the US’s largest companies. It embraced new technologies, established new methods of trading in energy and seemed to be a shining example of successful corporate America.

But the company’s success was based on artificially inflated profits, dubious accounting practices, and – some say – fraud.